The Heart of Life
by Rebel Mutant
Summary: The Ninja Turtles, the Fellowship Crew and Various Mutants must help the two Revenants Eartha the Mole and Ringo the Ringneck Snake find the way to defeat Doctor Rat before he can unleash his diabolical scheme across all of existence! Chapter 39: What Measure is an Animal's Soul?
1. New Morning in New Eden

_**Okeydokey Guys I wanted to save starting this until Thanksgiving Day Because it was on a Thanksgiving Day like...Two years ago I think that I finally decided on Eartha being a Mole and Ringo being a Ringneck Snake so I treat Thanksgiving Day like their birthdays, plus Thanksgiving is always my 'Philosophical Holiday' where after the meal I start thinking about stuff like the meaning of life and mortality and then freak myself out and have to start imagining fun stuff to feel less freaked out but I realize I had to strike while the Katana was still hot so here is the first chapter in the Heart of Life.**_

Edward Nygma soon learned what the Roosters in New Eden do to prevent themselves from crowing at the sun in the mornings and revealing they were in New Eden...When the sin started to rise and the Roosters felt the urge to crow...They all stuck their heads into the cave's hot springs and Edward and several other people awoke to the sound of gargled crowing!

Unable to fall back asleep after that and seeing from the mouth of the cave it was real late in the morning, probably approaching noon, Edward Nygma decided he would take this time for a dip in one of the many hot springs in New Eden.

Edward removed all his clothes and slowly lowered himself into the hot spring, first taking the time to scrub all the dirt he could see off himself...He really wished he could have some soap at the moment but what was soap but processed animal fat and while he was grateful to know he could have bivalves, milk and unfertilized eggs here in New Eden, like meat soap generally required that an animal be killed and not as far as he knew a brainless bivalve like he had had for lunch yesterday. So instead he began to swim leisurely around the crystal clear hot spring, loosening up some muscles that were tight from sleeping curled in a tight fetal position through the night, at one point he tried dipping his head under the hot water but found that was a bit much for him.

Soon he felt he had had enough and went to pick up his clothes...Then remembered those clothes were dry clean only...So best not to put them on while soaking wet, instead he just put on his underpants...No one here would give a rat's tail if he just walked around in his underpants and took a stroll in the warm Summer sun to help dry himself off. A bit down the way he could see Eleanor Capra, she was completely naked (The Mutant Sheep's large body was prone to overheating especially when wearing clothes) and was holding a bouquet of daisies...Actually...She was eating a bouquet of daisies. Edward decided he would have a chat with the Mutant Ewe while things were still relatively quiet.

Donatello also awakened by the Roosters' underwater crowing saw now was the perfect time for basking and so the purple banded Turtle walked out of the Dragon Cave to a large flat rock he had found earlier the day before and determined it was the perfect spot for basking...He lay flat on his plastron...Stretched out his legs...Typical of the Red-Earred Slider species when they bask...Rested his chin on his folded arms and started in that most reptilian of pleasures basking in the sun.

He probably got 10 or 15 minutes of basking in...When he heard footsteps and could simply feel...Eartha's warm furry body approaching him.

"Basking?" Eartha asked

"Yeah." Don said

"I would sometimes ask Ringo why he liked basking so much..." Eartha said "...He said if he didn't do it he would feel ill for the rest of the day...I guess I didn't get it because I liked darkness so much better...But is it really true? Do Reptiles get ill if they don't bask?"

Don had to think a bit before answering that question...He and his Brothers were not normal compared to normal reptiles and most of the Humanimals believed they were not truly cold-blooded but ad some kind of weird ectotherm/endotherm hybrid metabolism...Donatello had to agree with their conclusion he simply never really got around to thinking about how their unique metabolisms could be classified...But they really did feel better after basking...Long ago they had gotten a large sun lamp because previous years they had gotten shell rot. After thinking about all these things he simply turned to Eartha and said "Yeah, it's true...Reptiles do become ill if they don't get enough sun...Me and my brothers have experienced it more than a few times...Really all animals need the sun to live...Even nocturnal animals and other creatures who live in the dark."

"Really?" Eartha cocked her head "Maybe I should bask too!"

She lay down right beside Don, their sides touching...While her musky Mole scent wasn't that unpleasant...It was more than Don wanted to deal with at the moment so he sat up and said "What do you want Eartha?"

"Ringo...Really wants to talk to you." Eartha said "He knows something happened between you and Morgan but he doesn't know what...Rory's song didn't really help explaining much..."

"I bet it didn't." Don said he winced, now that he had finally patched things up with Morgan he didn't want to potentially stir things up again by revealing to these two Innocents what had happened between the two of them…

"The truth it is a very long story...I think I need to start from the very beginning...Why don't you take me to where Ringo is, and I'll tell it to both of you."

Eartha took Don by the hand and she led him to a shady grove of trees.

 _ **I was originally gonna dedicate some time to Riddler and Eleanor's conversation and Don telling Eartha and Ringo a story but I think I'll leave those for the next chapter.**_


	2. A Tale of Love

_**So Boys and Girls this is something I've had waiting in the wings for some time now, but just now had the opportunity to reveal, Donatello is gonna reveal through memory sharing what transpired between Belladonna himself when they first met when he chased after her into the forest, while we got some of the conversation that took place before Belladonna shared her memories with him revealed in The Mutant Riots, here we reveal what happened afterwards.**_

Sitting on a fallen log in the shady grove Don sat before Ringo and Eartha and sighed

"I think before we get into what happened between Morgan and I...I think you should know about my...Mate and how we came to be together in the first place..."

Ringo and Eartha looked up at him with bright-eyed beaming faces...It was clear they looked up to him...Though why exactly Don wasn't sure at this point.

"I think the best way to tell you this story is through memory sharing..." Don said "...But before we do that...A few words of prologue...It was a hot Summer night...The Fellowship Herd had rescued my brothers and I from being slowly tortured to death by some Rogue Foot Ninja who didn't agree to Karai calling off the feud...They captured us...I wanted to slowly torture us to death one by one...Starting with..Leo..." Don quivered a bit remembering this, "I couldn't sleep that night...So I occupied my mind by reading one of the Fellowship's books...When Ichabod came in...Telling me Belladonna...A Water Dragon...Had run away from the Barn...And I needed to find her and bring her back...I did as I was requested...I followed her into the Forest...She had been dreaming of her past...She said she needed to tell someone...And since I...Was...From a different Dimension entirely...She believed that by telling me...No one from her Dimension, not her Herd, not any of her enemies would ever find out...She told me the story of her past through Dream Sharing...I think for her story it would be better you 'Hear' it from Belladonna herself...But what I will share with you now...Is what happened immediately after she shared her memories with me...Give me your hands..."

The Two of them each gave one of their hands...Eartha her massive pink hand with five clawed fingers, and Ringo his much more delicate and slender, scaly three fingered hand with a long elegant claw at the end of each finger. Donatello intertwined his fingers with theirs and shut his eyes to focus on the memory…

 _Flashback_

 _As the feeling of Belladonna's memory faded...The feeling of being passed around to one warm maternal set of arms to the next and hearing the sounds of various creatures singing...Everything began to melt to a feeling of warmth all over...Then...He felt a strange refreshing feeling in his face...Like a cool breeze….It took him a few moments for reality to come back into focus for him...And that was when he realized...He was kissing Belladonna on the mouth! The cool breeze feeling was her strange frosty breath! How long had they been doing this? Don realizing just now he was beginning to add his tongue quickly pulled away...His cheeks heating up...That feeling of pure bliss quickly t_ _o pure horror!_

" _Oh shell! Oh shell!" He stammered quickly scooting away from her as fast as he good "I'm sorry!" He said quickly "I'm SO sorry! I didn't mean to...It was never my intention to..."_

 _But Belladonna seemed to have a warm smile on her face...And Don realized this was the first time he had seen her calm...But then again...For the entire time the 'Fellowship Crew' had been here...Belladonna had been hiding in the Barn so this was the first time they had met period! But now with her Memories inside him...Knowing her inner most thoughts and feelings...He felt he knew more about her in just these past few minutes than he had known about April after the first few months of knowing her!_

" _Donatello..." Belladonna said with a giggle...She was actually laughing! "It's all right! Don't worry about it! I...I thought that was rather...Pleasant...That was my very first kiss."_

 _Don sighed it figured with that horrible guilt inside her for all these years, she had never attempted to form a romantic relationship with anyone with that kind of Sword of Damocles hanging over her head._

" _I...Once was kissed on the cheek." Don said his blush turning his cheeks pink as they could possibly be "But this was my very first...Mouth to mouth kiss."_

 _Belladonna rumbled sympathetically "Look at this way..." She said taking his hand in her's "This promise is now sealed...With a kiss."_

 _Don felt a tingling sensation all over...He started to shiver in spite of the sweltering Northeastern humidity...He felt a giggle rising up from his throat "Holy...Shell..." He giggled as laughter was the only way that could give a reprieve from this tension._

 _B_ _elladonna smiled and her rumbling quickly became a Dragon's Purr "You've got an adorable giggle." She said_

 _Don continued to giggle as he stood himself up "Shall we head back to the barn?" He found himself asking with more gallantry than he thought he would._

 _Belladonna nodded and as they walked back...Don felt as though some lenses that had been clouding his sight had fallen from his eyes...He felt he could see Belladonna more clearly now...That she wasn't just a Dragon she was the most Beautiful Dragon who ever lived! Her eyes were the prettiest shade of Robin's Egg Blue...She had the daintiest muzzle...The dark indigo blue of her mane combined with the ambiance of her white fur was truly breathtaking!_

 _End Flashback_

"OK I think that's enough for now." Don said as he pulled his hands away. Both Eartha and Ringo were blushing (It was a bit hard to tell, as Eartha's cheeks had dark fur while Ringo's cheeks had dark scales so you had to know what to look for)

"That night really threw me for a loop." Don said "Before then I always thought love at first sight was for Hallmark Cards and Disney Movies...But then I realized it wasn't love at first sight...No...What happened that night was we were two lonely souls who found each other that night...And what Harkaskeerah or Memory Sharing was able to grant us was the ability to realize how right we were for each other in a much shorter time than it usually takes."

 _ **More to come soon, tune in next time, Same Turtle Time Same Turtle Channel!**_


	3. Triassic Trials and Tribulations

_**Knowing that I have only 58 Chapters to finish this Arc I realized I can't dilly-dally I need to get this plot moving. So here I will will fully admit that I'm totally making up this Triassic Plant that smells a certain way that gets Turtles aroused but not Reptiles that evolved later like Snakes (If you're a total Evolution Nerd like I am, you know Snakes are pretty much the Babies of the Reptile Family Tree, I was inspired by the rancid meat and dung smelling flowers that appear in Robert Bakker's Raptor Red but just know that this is 100 percent my own invention and if turns out such I thing existed in Prehistoric Times it was purely a coincidence. Also it does add more menace to Black Creature's character by messing with New Eden's ecosystem planting Mesozoic Plants Showing that he and other Creatures like him seek to bring things back to how they were in Mesozoic and Ttark is the only one who accepts that things have changed.**_

Eleanor and Edward Nygma were finishing up a lovely talk about how their lives had changed...Edward telling her about how the one good thing that came from his disastrous marriage was that he got his beloved daughter Pandora out of it.

"It was with her I truly learned the meaning of love..." Edward sighed "...With Brenda I only learned the meaning of lust...Actually I knew that already...You learn the meaning of lust at puberty."

Eleanor chuckled at this and Edward smiled...While he had said he was willing to be 'Friends with Benefits' with Eleanor for the time being until she found a more suitable mate he realized he was now playing a dangerous game of chicken with his own emotions...That the more sexual relations he had with her...The more attached he would be to her...And he wouldn't want to let her go when it was time…

Just then Eartha and Ringo came leaping overhead full of energy "Eleanor! Edward Nygma!" Eartha said waving her hand "We want to show you guys some more of New Eden!"

It then began to dawn of Nygma that this strange place was truly massive...In a very short amount of time the Insect Revenants had created an immense garden.

He then felt something soft hit him and for a moment he was blinded by white...It was his shirt...Jonathan had tossed him his clothes

"Put those on before the Moths eat them." Jonathan said with a smile.

"These are pure polyester." Nygma said "I don't they're edible to any creature."

So Eartha and Ringo led the collection of Humans, Humanimals and Mutants (And the one Janah in Si'Ni who had slept very late and only woke up because she was hungry) It seemed Don's memories had given them a renewed sense of purpose that they still had to fight for all creatures not just their own personal dreams...It was simply that the Battle Plans must vastly change from what Great Father intended.

They came to a river on the other side were some very, very strange plants that neither Eartha nor Ringo had ever seen before...The best they could classify them was as weird looking trees kind of like Palm Trees which they had seen when in Apollo's Belly...But the scent that was coming from...Ugh! It was like rancid meat...Or manure...What kind of scent was that for a tree.

As the Others caught up with them...They began to get a whiff of the strange plants' scent...For most of them...They began to cough or gag...Some looked like they were ready to vomit...But for the Ninja Turtles...Something different happened...They froze when the scent their noses...And they stopped wherever they were for a few moments they stood still as statues...Then the four of them clutched their abdomens some like Raph and Leo gave a low grunt but other like Mikey and Don actually yelled out their pain as they felt their erections begin in their cloacas...Hit the bit of plastron that went between their legs...But if their erection is determined enough it can cause the 'plastron thong' to open involuntarily of the Turtles' will.

As soon as the Turtle penises shot out for too see...Several people screamed...Most notably the Girl Cubs and Si'Ni...Who had never seen anything like this! Janah all have Human-Like Genitalia...What she was seeing was some gross pinkish-purplish mass and it was coming...Out of their anuses. Si'Ni ran behind some large rocks fearing that what was coming out their Butts was some kind of horrific monster.

However the one who was perhaps most affected...Was Morgan. Don heard her squeak and over her mouth and the Black Mamba-Girl slithered away as hast she could...From what Don could see...Tears were streaming down her face.

"Holy shell..." Mikey finally said with a gasp "I'm so sorry! I totally didn't mean to do that!"

"None of us did Mikey!"Leo said sounding a bit winded as well "When all of us smelled that...Rancid smell...It just...Happened...I think we need to get away from that smell."

The Turtles tried to move away as quickly as possible...But with their massive phalluses between their legs and refusing to go back in...It was at best a hobble.

"I don't get it." Edward Nygma said still covering his nose "That smell is the most putrid, disgusting scent one could conceive of...How can they be aroused by it? I mean I no they live in the sewers but..."

Marzipan looked at the plants across the river. "Those plants don't look like any plants I've ever seen before…." She said "...Except..." She began to scan her memories for anything similar "...Except for maybe in one of my books about Dinosaurs."

Ichabod...Knowing quite a bit about Plants, realized their might be something to that and came over to take a closer look.

"Those do look positively prehistoric..." Ichabod said "...In fact if my memory serves me right...They look like the kind of plants that were around during...The Triassic Period."

Eartha and Ringo suddenly realized what this meant "Black Creature!" Eartha gasped

Eartha quickly looked around for any nearby Insects, she found a Beetle Gardener.

"You there!" She said quickly "How long have those strange smelling plants been there!"

"One day they just started showing up." Said the Beetle "I'd wake up every morning and their would be new ones..."

"Did you see a Black Creature near them?" Eartha asked

"Yes." Said the Beetle "He seemed to like them very much."

Eartha's eyes narrowed "I want you and all the other Insects to pull up every last one of them...They don't belong here in New Eden!"

The Beetle nodded for even though it wasn't ever directly stated the Insects all knew that the Vertebrates were Greater than them so the Cows and Chickens who provided Food aside, the Insects looked to Vertebrates for Leadership.

"Morgan was crying." Ringo said "I need to know why."

He slithered off, Eartha knew she needed to follow him.

Si'Ni while still disturbed by what she had seen, she was also had a curiosity that was comparable to a Cat, Monkey or Crow Janah so she realized she had to know what had just happened as well so she followed the Mole-Girl and the Snake-Boy.

 _ **I think I'll save the talk Don has with Morgan for the next chapter**_


	4. Even Snakes Can Cry

_**So here is the chapter where I reveal exactly what happened to Morgan during the events of Donatello's Wedding and this addresses something about First Earth, in a world that knows about mind control of various kinds like body possession and how that knowledge would affect the world's legal system, How does one prove one was mind controlled? In matter of culpability how complicit was one in being mind controlled? If like with Morgan and (Most) Wranglers you were born into it, how culpable are you for anything you did before you were freed from your mind control?**_

After putting some distance between him and the scent of those plants, He was able to pull his shaft back into his cloaca. He heard Morgan crying, he looked and saw Morgan in a shady grove in the grass crying her eyes out.

Don realized he had to say something to the Snake-Girl...Not just for her but for himself...He realized there was something he had to know. So he quietly made his way over to her.

He peeked out from behind a birch tree. He wasn't sure what to say...He was beginning to feel a quivering in his lions, in his glutes, and his legs, but he his burning need to know was stronger than his shivering and his feet stayed planted where they were.

Finally he said the only thing he could think to say "Hey." He said softly

Morgan's crying stopped she froze, her back was turned her him, he could not see her face at all...Her mass of black hair was like a veil over her head and upper back.

"Morgan..." Don said as he edged over around the birch tree toward a large gray rock on which he could sit. "Is...Is there anything you want to talk about?"

Morgan didn't say anything, Don could see her serpentine tail constantly squirming back and forth first clutching one clump of grass than the other.

"Donatello." Morgan said she still didn't turn to face him he could hear her easily because of the Broadway-Quality voice "I've been wanting to say this since...Since I've been free. But I quickly realized I had no right to even say 'I'm Sorry' to you...I accepted it as fate."

Don know felt a quiver now in his throat, he was quickly regretting being so harsh with her earlier.

"After I was freed, I was able to realize that for nearly all of my life...What I thought were my ideas were really my Mother's ideas...I never was able to leave her, no matter where I went...As her Familiar she was able to see through my eyes, hear though my ears "(She meant 'Ears' in the colloquial sense how Humanimals Snakes hear is through the jaw like Cetaceans) "And she was able to telepathically communicate with me...In a way I thought it was my own inner voice speaking...While it was my idea to search for a different dimension that had Animal-People similar to myself...When my Mother saw the same thing I was looking at...She then came up with the plan to forge a portal from First Earth to this Newer Third Earth and it was her who came up with the plan to find a Mutant Animal to to dupe...To be the sucker to hide behind in the formation of an army of Mutant Animals...It was her who bid me to steal the Gaia Emerald to become to new Queen of the Earth Animals...All this time she had been keeping me on an infinitely extendable leash...Subtly guiding my actions...For many years she could have me wander on my own without guiding me at all only needing to do so maybe once every few months...But...When I decided to find a realm with Creatures who were like Humanimals but not Humanimals...She saw an opportunity and took a stronger hold of me...Still I was able to think my own thoughts at least some of the time...As any chance of a Mutant Animal Empire crumbled around me...My Mother decided after the healing of the veils between worlds that she was done with letting me have any freedom at all and took complete control over me...It happened as I was sleeping...She simply was able to have her spirit enter my body as I was sleeping, trap my soul, my spirit, my actual personality in a container inside myself...So my real personality would remain asleep indefinitely so she was able to take complete control of my body...She was in the driver's seat now...That was my Mother controlling my body who transformed Belladonna into a Human and sent her deep underground...And it was her controlling my body when..."

"I see." Don said he looked at his twitching legs "If you asleep during this time...How can you have any memories of..."

"That's one of the strange things about the spell..." Morgan said "...While the original personality is 'offline' the physical brain still gathers memories of everything that happens while the body is possessed and should the original personality reclaim the body they have access to those memories however strange and alien those memories will be when they find themselves doing strange or evil things...It's like...If someone broke into your house put some new movies in your collection and even if you didn't ask for those movies at all you can still watch them...I remember sex with you Donatello...And I remember the feeling of your life energy being added to my own...But more than that I remember the feeling of you inside me...I remember in particular the feeling...Of your legs….How muscular they were...How they felt against my body...As a Creature who doesn't have legs I can't help but be fascinated by them and that few moments ago I remembered when we had sex...I remember the pleasure I felt...And at the same time how much pain you were in...And..." She started crying again "...I just hate myself for it!"

Don's legs were quivering...He rubbed them to calm them down...He realized he had to ask something.

"Am I...The only other person you've ever had sex with, other than Bill?" He asked

Morgan still didn't turn to face him so she squeaked out a "Yes."

Don continued to rub his legs as he thought about all he had heard he realized that not only was Morgan not culpable for his rape...But everything she had done prior including all the stuff she did to cause the Mutant Riots wasn't really her fault at all...What others like Bill and Moses had been trying to tell him was right...This is the first time Morgan had been her true self since the day she was born!

"I'm really grateful we had this talk." Don said then he felt he needed to add "I really mean that...I see now...What I needed most to heal was to be able to figure out...What the shell happened to me...That this whole disaster was a puzzle I needed to solve to be able to truly heal...And now...One part of the puzzle if definitely in place...Thank you Morgan."

Meanwhile...From behind a different large gray rock...Eartha and Ringo had heard everything that transpired between Morgan and Donatello and the Mole-Girl and Snake-Boy looked at each other. This was more than anything they could have ever imagined!

 _ **Thanksgiving may have not one but two Chapters...Or maybe a new chapter for two different stories either way look forward to Thanksgiving!**_


	5. Evening Music

_**So...If any of you were kids of the early 90s you may or may not remember a series called National Geographic's Really Wild Animals but if you did on specifically you know the Swinging Safari video about Africa then you'll know where the song Zeb sings in this one (This is something I've been dying to get to for a while setting up the rivalry between Zeb the Zebra and Taylor the Flamingo the most tomboyish and the girliest of the Mutant Cubs respectively) Also it reminds me of a Campfire Story I did on Writing Dot Com where I wrote a Zebra as a character who became a love interest and it quickly became established in our collaboration that all Zebras are beautiful singers (At least that's how they're supposed to be) so another tip of the hat to older stories**_

As the sun began to set, bellies rumbled in need of something to eat. Minsk decided to prepare some Apricot soup...A dessert soup but if you know anything about Herbivorous and Omnivorous Humanimals you would know they often have dessert for their meals. (Which isn't all that different from most Humans, why are things like pancakes and donuts labeled as breakfast foods than?) __

As the soup began to simmer...Eartha and Ringo watched the sunset by the river, Eartha dipped her feet in the water, Ringo dipped the tip of his tail. As the two watched the first stars come out to play Eartha said quietly "You still thinking about it?"

Ringo nodded

"The more I think about it." Eartha said "The more questions I have, but for the first time I'm scared to know the answers."

Ringo flicked his forked tongue in and out rapidly a sure sign his thoughts were troubling him.

Eartha smiled at her Serpentine friend "Back when we were ordinary Animals everything was so simple...Life was about a few things...Find food, try not to become food...And on rare occasions, mating. Now everything is so...So...Complicated." The Mole-Girl looked into the darkening sky and thought to herself 'To think, all this started because I wanted to see the stars, now I want to know more about more things.'

Si'Ni who had also snooped on Don and Morgan's conversation from her own rock (The large Sow was too fat to share a rock with Eartha and Ringo) over the course of the Day she learned that most of the things in this garden were edible to a Pig like herself, Ichabod introduced her to a delicious red fruit called a 'Straw-Berry' (So named because these Berries are so close to the ground from which they sprout, ancient humans placed straw underneath them from which they sprout to prevent them from rotting) Ichabod told her they were the Queen of the Humanimals favorite fruit after one bite Si'Ni said "I can see why they're were favorite" She started plucking more berries and devouring "The perfect balance of tart and sweet...I've never had anything quite like it."

Ichabod proceeded to tell her an ancient Human story from the Humans who first inhabited this particular land called 'North America' their tale of the origin of the strawberry begins with the first male and female humans, after their first quarrel First Woman storms away after a time First Man regrets quarreling with her and beseeches the 'Great Spirit' to slow First Woman's pace so that he might catch up with her. First Great Spirit caused all the blueberries to grow, she did not slow her pace, then he caused all the berries which grow on bushes to grow, still she did not slow down, then he caused all the fruits which grow on trees to grow still she kept up her pace, then Great Spirit decided to create a new kind of berry, one that grows closes to the ground and one the same shape and color of a human heart. And thus when First Woman stepped on some of these new berries, the fragrance wafted up toward her nostrils and she stopped and noticed the fruits, she stopped to eat and when thus First Man was able to catch up to her and they made amends.

Si'Ni thought that was a very nice and sweet tale, and she had read many stories over the course of her life, including in own culture's tales of the Devah, but even not knowing anything about the Culture surrounding that tale she could appreciate it and it's charming simplicity.

Ichabod smiled and said "I am a man, nothing human is alien to me."

Si'Ni didn't quite 'get' what that meant, but she decided not to ask any further questions as Ichabod left to tend to something else. So she went on to devour more berries.

As she sat on her rock thinking, the five small children who came on this mission came up to her.

"Why did they bring such small children on such a dangerous mission?" Si'Ni asked more herself than the Cubs.

"They didn't bring us." The Zebra Filly named Zeb said "We brought ourselves. We were attacked by Doctor Rat at the Natural History Museum and...I decided I had to come...Because I didn't know if I had a soul or not and I thought doing this I would...Be able to find the answer."

"So..." Si'Ni said "...In this world the Creatures who speak aren't sure weather they have souls or not."

Si'Ni looked at Zeb "Can you not stand on your hind legs at all? I see you have hands at the end of your front legs, albeit strange three fingers hands."

"Different ungulate-people have different numbers of fingers depending on what work they're intended to do." Zeb said "I'm not a Humanimal, I'm a Mutant this is just how my hands naturally mutated."

"I'm sure this all makes perfect sense." Si'Ni said "But to me it's all just gibberish...My world..." She sighed "...My world has not made have the discoveries this or any other world with Humans has made."

The Cubs looked at each other, remembering the Creature they were talking to was from a Medieval society.

"Would you like to hear an Earth song?" Zeb asked

"What's the song about?" Si'Ni asked

"Both Ichabod and Marzipan taught us many songs," Zeb said "This is one Marzipan taught us...A Song about how Ordinary Zebras live in the wild."

Si'Ni had already learned from experience that she heard the Earth-People sing a song the translation spell would do its best to translate what was literally being said to Nilami which often resulted in not one verse rhyming to her ears and also the singing feeling very wonky with no meter.

"All right then." Si'Ni said "I do want to know how 'Suthra' Zebras are different from 'Janah' Zebras."

Zeb began to sing. The Filly's voice sand without music, but her bell like voice caused several creatures, The Turtles, Eartha and Ringo even Morgan to stop whatever they were doing and take notice.

" _On the African Plain_

 _We stand with our heads held high_

 _We're ten thousand strong_

 _Gazing with watchful eye_

 _Till a sound from somewhere_

 _Danger in the wind_

 _Starts a chain reaction_

 _We're in motion once again_

 _Stripes_

 _We're Nature's design_

 _Patterns in time_

 _Stripes_

 _Moving as one_

 _In the shimmering sun_

 _Stripes_

 _See how we run_

 _These grasses and streams_

 _Are all that we need for home_

 _Till the season is dry_

 _And once again we roam_

 _Mares and stallions_

 _Foals by our side_

 _We are the tiger horses_

 _With the power of stripes"_

At that point several of the Creatures burst into applause for the small Zebra-Girl causing the filly much surprise to see she had more audience than she intended.

Si'Ni applauded as well "Even though I know I'm not hearing you as you really are...I know you sang beautifully in any language."

And Zeb blushed, which was visible through the white portions of her face fur.

"Even if you don't ever gain the ability to walk on your hind legs..." Si'Ni said "I have the feeling you will become a ravishing beauty when you get older."

At this point, Taylor scowled, steam was practically shooting out of her ears with envy. The Flamingo-Chick always thought herself to be the beauty of her siblings...To see her tomboyish sister be called the beauty caused her fists to curl into tight balls...She had to get out of here before she completely lost her temper.

As Taylor stomped away, Ichabod saw, and he realized what had happened and knew he had to follow her.

 _ **I guess this can be the Thanksgiving Eve special...I just couldn't wait I had to post this!**_


	6. Everyone has an Ugly Phase

_**So a few days ago on YouTube a kind of 'trailer' for someone's RPG campaign combining both TMNT/After the Bomb and few other Palladium Titles like Beyond the Supernatural appeared, I waited on the edge of my seat for footage of the actual game to appear but unfortunately none did so. But that aside I could have titled this chapter 'Urine Trouble' for reasons that will become clear later in the trouble but decided not to because while bodily functions will become recurring motif in this story, the story is meant to be more profound than to have those kind of title chapters.**_

Taylor stomped looking for a place of still water where she could see her reflection, She still couldn't believe that Sow thought Zeb was the ravishing beauty! Of course Pigs shouldn't be great judges of beauty the Species' most notable traits are being fat and of often bald. Finally Taylor found a puddle of water where she could see her reflection, the Flamingo Chick peered down and saw to her horror, her downy feathers which had previously had been pure snowy white were now turning gray! Just a few touches of ashen gray around the edges at the moment but Taylor could see soon she would be completely gray!

"I'm turning gray!" She cried tears squirting from her eyes "Why didn't anyone tell me?! How long have I been turning gray!"

Ichabod heard this as he was approaching her...Instantly he tried to soothe his Favorite of the Mutant Cubs.

"Taylor..." He said reaching out to her, but the Chick pulled away from him "Taylor, it's all right...I know it seems hard now, but this is a normal part of being a Bird...Yes you'll have to be gray for a while, but soon those gray feathers will molt and soon you'll be in the beautiful pink plumage of an adult."

Taylor sniffled "How long will I have to wait?"

Ichabod flickered "Well..If you;'re anything like a Humanimal Bird you get you're adult plumage when you hit puberty so...When you're a teenager."

Taylor started "I'm only a year and half!" She wept "I have to be gray for all those years?!"

"Taylor..." Ichabod tried to pick her up again but again she pulled away from him "I know it seems like a long time...But...Everyone has an ugly phase...I kind of never left it."

Taylor stopped crying when she heard that, she looked at Ichabod.

"You? Ugly?!" She said "But you're the handsomest Human ever! You're a Human who looks like a Flamingo!"

Ichabod was taken aback by this for a moment but then he realized, his scrawny body, including his long, gangly legs, his rose red hair and even his bulbous nose, did make him seem very much like a Flamingo. Ichabod couldn't help but laugh upon this realization.

"That may be..." He chuckled "...But still..." Ichabod then noticed the ground just behind Taylor was moving like when a Mole is about to emerge, but he knew there was only one Mole in New Eden at the moment and she was currently too large for the size of the mound that was forming also, a familiar filthy smell alerted Ichabod's nose, quickly, Ichabod grabbed Taylor and held her aloft just as the disgusting slime monster poked its head out of the ground. In his fright, Ichabod let loose a stream of urine that landed on the emerging slime and when that happened...When the urine touched the slimy brown mass there was a hiss and the smell of burning some of the brown began to dissolve the Slime Monster writhed about for a few moments as if in pain, then it slithered back down its hole. Ichabod saw this and realized he had to tell the others...Tucking Taylor under one arm he ran back to the others.

Everyone looked at everyone else not knowing what to say for a few moments.

"So..." Raph said "These disgusting filth monsters...There one weakness...Is piss?!"

"Hang on Raph." Don said "There is...The probability that it's only...Human urine that effects them this way...After all...If these were Created by the Humans here to be hunters of animals...It would make sense that they would...Engineer a way for Humans to protect themselves against against them as they don't seem to be capable of discriminating."

"Geez." Mikey said "First your Dad wets his pants then you...Are there any...Health issues we should know about?"

Ichabod blushed bright red "It's a perfectly normal fear response! Beside if I hadn't done it, who knows what kind of damage that thing might have caused!"

"OK! Geez!" Mikey said "Just seems kind of weird is all."

"Ichabod is right." Don said "I think we should head back to where that thing emerged...Maybe there will some residue I can do tests on."

"Careful Don." Morgan said "That stuff is extremely toxic, you do not want any of it to touch you."

 _ **I think this is a good place to end it.**_


	7. The Mountain of Mystery

_**So...Here is a chapter I've been planning for a really long time, I originally thought it was gonna be The Revenants of Dark Earth but I ran out of Space so it is here...I've had a chance the revise how it was originally gonna be done, here Artemis contacts Marzipan (Probably because as a Mage Monarch she was the most easy to contact,) to warn them of her Brother's machinations instead of someone just having a random burst of intuition that they shouldn't let Eartha and Ringo see the 'Night Rainbow' does kind of give the feeling that Artemis is still involved with the plot and she didn't just task the heroes and simply sit in her crystalline prison for the rest of the story content they would be fine on their own.**_

The next day started rather innocently, after waking up and eating breakfast, Eartha said "I think I want to return to the Mountain we last saw Black Creature standing on."

"Why?" Asked Leo

"I saw there was a cave entrance and well...I have this feeling we should explore that cave." Eartha said

"Think he may be hiding there?" Raph asked

"I don't think anything in particular." Eartha said "I just have the feeling we should explore it."

So...Taking the Enchanted Cooler and a few other necessities with them, Eartha and the Heroes from Other Earths (Plus Si'Ni) went back toward the Mountain on the Eastern Edge of New Eden, that was still mostly sand and rock and the plants for some reason had yet to reclaim it.

They found the entrance to the Cave, Mikey winced at the thought of more spelunking but he tried to be brave he followed his Brothers into the cave.

Eartha led the way, she seemed to be looking for something, she didn't know what but Ringo finally saw his chance to talk with Morgan, the Ring-Neck Revenant slowly slithered up to the beautiful Black Mamba, and he finally said "Hey."

When Morgan turned and looked at him, Ringo froze, he realized that if he had revealed that Eartha and himself and eavesdropped on that very emotional talk she had with Donatello yesterday, she might not like that. So Ringo after a moment of sweating said "I know we haven't really talked at all...Much of what I learned about you came from other creatures telling me about you."

Morgan cocked her head "What do you think about what you've heard?"

Ringo quickly looked down at his own hands "That a lot has happened in your past..." Was all he could think to say "...And I realized what I want, is to talk to you."

Morgan of course was no fool when it came to this sort of thing she simply said "You're infatuated with me, aren't you?" She wasn't harsh or condemning, she said it as if she was talking about the weather.

"Yes." Was all Ringo could say

"Why me?" Morgan asked "Why not a Fellow Revenant Snake...One of your own particular species?"

"Because all of them were always smiling and laughing, while I was the only one who was miserable!" Ringo finally blurted out causing everyone to look at him, the two Snakes froze when they saw all eyes were on them, but Ringo decided to not stop, instead he held Morgan's hands in his own and said "All the other Female Snakes...Like every other Creature in the Belly except for Eartha was always smiling and laughing and content. But I was not, I looked around me and I thought 'Doesn't anyone remember what had just happened to them? How brutally we had all died?' I thought I was the only creature in the entire Belly who remembered how painful the death was, and everyone was acting like...It all didn't happen? That somehow what was happening now meant the Past didn't mean anything anymore...Eartha was the only one who wasn't as content, but it wasn't because she was thinking about her death...It was because she was thinking about what she saw when she was dead and that she just wanted to see that beauty again! When I saw you for the first time Morgan...I saw...A Snake-Face a Female Snake-Face...That looked as unhappy as my own...And that loneliness I saw in your eyes, was more beautiful then the dull sleep walking happiness I saw on all the other Female Snake Revenants!"

Morgan was beginning to feel tears form in her eyes and a lump rise in her throat hearing this.

"And that was the moment I realized..." Ringo said "...That I found my happiness...My happiness was that I wanted to know you...Know why you were unhappy...And together we would become happy."

 _ _"When people express what is most important to them, it often comes out in__ _ _cliches.__ _ _That doesn't make them laughable; it's something tender about them."__

 _ _Terrence Mallick__

Morgan was at a loss for words for a moment "You see me as I am now..." She said "...But I'm not sure what you would feel if you know what I had done..."

Eartha realized this conversation might risk exposing the eavesdropping, so without thinking about herself...Only thinking of saving her Friend's chance for true love, she ran to a tunnel that led to an unknown cavern and said "Hey everybody! I found it! I found what I'm looking for!"

They followed the Mole Revenant down the tunnel and when they reached the end they saw a brightly lit chamber...Partly flooded with sand as if someone was trying to create the world's largest sandbox, and scattered throughout the sand was various...Things...Human things...Broken furniture...Broken appliances...Old toys...All sorts of assorted things. Raph took one look at this collection of sand and junk and said "This is what you were looking for? Piles of garbage?"

Eartha chuckled a bit awkwardly "Well, I've never seen most of these things before." She said

"There could be some vital clues in here." Leo said "Why else would there be a bunch of stuff in this cave? Do you think...Black Creature brought these things here?"

Everyone waded through the sand to inspect the various things down here. Eartha and Ringo sat in the cool sand for a few moments, Eartha communicated in Animal-Speak to Ringo that she did this to distract so they wouldn't have to reveal they eavesdropped, so they better start looking interested in the various things.

And so they nosed around the various things, at times Eartha would ask what something was and Donatello was happy to explain what it was particularly if whatever she was asking about was some kind of machine.

There were quite a few still-nice things particularly old and beautiful toys, Marzipan being the sentimental bleeding-heart she was, asked the Turtles if they could take these toys and give them to April for her shop.

The Turtles were intrigued by the Prospect but Don did raise the question "Would taking something form another dimension and selling it be some kind of space-crime? Could it possibly have a negative effect on the time-space continuum?"

"Well if you're obviously stealing something that doesn't belong to you it's a crime." Marzipan said "But if these were just tossed out with the garbage then we would be recycling...And no, taking these inanimate objects won't effect the space-time continuum."

"Hold on." Leo said "While, most of this stuff is junk, we don't know how it got here...If Black Creature brought all these things here...Then it is possible he stole things to...Decorate this cave...Anyway...We can hold onto these things...Maybe they're a clue...Maybe we should just return them to where they came from but either way, they could come in handy."

Leo took the Toys from Marzipan and placed them in the Cooler, (For lack on any better container to place them in)

They even found what looked like a piece of a cardboard set from...Some kid's television show, judging by what was left of it contained a smiling sun, cartoonish looking plants and piece of a rainbow.

Eartha and Ringo became very interested in these pieces for some reason, and as they gazed at them, Marzipan turned and found herself looking at a large piece of sheet metal. Before her very eyes...The Cat-Girl saw a vision in the sheet of metal...She saw the pearly white face of Artemis...The Dragoness roared but only Marzipan could hear...A telepathic message was transmitted into her brain in the short amount of time it took for Eartha and Ringo to have their own psychic intuition simply by gazing at the piece of cardboard rainbow.

"Ringo!" Eartha exclaimed to her friend "The Night Rainbow! It's tonight!" And with that the two Revenants began running for the only way out of the Cavern, the same tunnel they entered from.

Marzipan's eared perked up and she yelled "Someone stop them! They can not see the sky tonight!"

Ichabod, was closest to the exit, tried his best to block with his scrawny beanpole body, but he knew that if they didn't simply squirm past him, they would shove him aside or possibly worse.

Fortunately, Don and Mikey were on it, they quickly ran after the two Revenants, Don grabbed Eartha, Mikey grabbed Ringo.

Both of them screamed and shrieked but both the Turtles held fast...Of course a Mole and Snake are two of the slipperiest animals on the planet, a Mole in particular is designed to move backwards through a tunnel as quickly as forwards, so she tried to wriggle backwards through Donatello's legs the feeling of super-soft super tickly Mole fur against his inner legs, caused a shiver through his entire body, he slackened his grip by a fraction and Eartha nearly broke free, Thinking quickly, Don sat down with a heavy thump! Pinning Eartha before she could escape, The Mole-Girl screamed again, this time from legitimate pain, Don realized the edge of his carapace was digging into her spine, so he quickly shifted position, instead of straddling her body, he sat he his two legs hung over her left side and the edge of his carapace hung over her right.

"Good idea Donny." Mikey said as Ringo was also trying to slither out from between a Turtle's legs. Mikey sat down on Ringo's tail causing the Snake-Boy to scream with pain.

"Get off me! Get off me!" Eartha protested, and her claws tried to dig away, but here was the shallow part of the sandbox, and now Eartha's claws were only scraping against bare rock.

"Not a chance." Don said gruffly as he mopped the sweat from his brow "Since I can see I've got you clearly pinned under my posterior, I shall sit here for as long as I need to, think of this as payback for biting my butt!"

Si'Ni, who actually had been taking great pleasure in seeing all these Strange things and was learning from Don's explanations along with Eartha and Ringo, was...Very confused by what had happened in the last whirlwind few minutes but as these Creatures had been so kind to her, these past few days, she felt obligated to try to return the favor. "If you need a break..." She said mildly "Perhaps I can sit on them for you...My...Physique is well suited for this kind of task."

Don and Mikey looked at each other for a few minutes

"That's very sweet of your to offer Si'Ni." Don said "But we were tasked to protect Eartha and Ringo, you've clearly been through enough, we shouldn't burden you with our duties."

Si'Ni nodded

"Besides..." Don said with an evil smirk "...Eartha makes a really nice cushion..." He began to bounce/grind his butt into her, with every bounce he gave a word "Really! Plush! And! Velvety!"

 _ **Don's butt finally gets it's revenge! Tune in next time for a song and the revealing of why they shouldn't see the Night Rainbow**_


	8. The Journey Chant

_**Once again I have my Shard: Basic Compendium in my lap as I'm about the copy the 'Journey Chant' word for word which is basically the Dardunah equivalent of the Biblical account of Creation in Genesis, how the Animals in that Space Menagerie perceived the flight to a new Dimension and the beginnings of their culture shortly thereafter**_

Ringo still squirmed in Mikey's arms "You Turtle!" He hissed "You great clunking mass of a reptile! You...Rock with legs! Unhand me!"

Mikey however laughed "Ha ha!" He said in his put-on 'Superhero Voice' "You can not hope to escape my mighty Turtle arms..." He then switched his voice to to 'Baby Talk Voice "Cuz you're so little!" He cooed which infuriated the Dainty Snake-Boy even more "Look at the little guy!" Mikey cooed "Look at him squirm!"

"Hey Marzi." Raph said "Why can't they see this night rainbow thing anyway?"

"Because..." Marzipan said "...This is Apollo's attempt to sway them back to his original plan...If they see the 'Night Rainbow' or Apollo's specially crafted Aurora Borealis...He will hypnotize them...Reminding them of how badly they were hurt by humans and wiping all the memories they formed after their deaths setting them back at square one again."

Of course Eartha and Ringo heard that and although they didn't say anything...The fact their pupils turned to pinpricks and their jaws dropped told everyone that they did not know this would happen if they saw the Night Rainbow, still neither Don nor Mikey released them as they felt something might still draw them outside...Like something built into them, like the Humanimal's built-in need to love.

"Hey Marzi." Don said "I think I saw a bag of chocolate-chip cheese cookies last time I looked in the cooler, could you hand me that bag?"

Marzipan obliged and as Don opened the bag Mikey asked "These your 'Broody Cravings' Donny?" Remembering that Mutant Turtles of both sexes might experience strange cravings while 'Brooding' their eggs.

"What are you talking about Mikey?" Don asked "I always liked these."

Watching all this unfold Si'Ni finally went up to Raphael and bashfully she asked "May I borrow one of your...Weapons for one moment please?"

Raph and Leo looked at each other.

"Uh...What do you want it for?" Raph asked but he reached for one sai to hand it over to her.

Si'Ni took the sai and poked a hole in back of her dress for her curly tail to poke through

"Oh!" Raph chuckled as she handed his sai back to him "You just wanted to cut a hole fer yer tail! Why didn't you say so?"

"It's just been driving me crazy..." Si'Ni sighed and felt her tail with two fingers "I may not have the longest or fanciest tail, but I still like it...Like how it curls naturally."

Si'Ni still wanted to do something to repay these Creatures who had been so kind to her...Finally she decided to sing the song every Janah knows in one form or another...The song of how the Janah came to Dardunah (Which she now knew the complete truth of) The Journey Chant.

As she sang she moved swaying from side to side, holding her arms in a position similar to Balinese dancers.

" _Darkness begins and Darkness ends_

 _Light is the Purifier, the Great Flowing Sea,_

 _The Breath of the Gods_

 _Shine Forth_

 _Dardunah, the World is without gods_

 _It is without children, tears or song_

 _No one weeps for its dust._

 _Silence._

 _Mahitayah, the Great Father comes_

 _Mahiambah, the Great Mother, comes,_

 _Riding their fiery chariot, rejoice._

 _Sing aloud_

 _The Edge of Heaven splits open,_

 _The Providers and Protectors come,_

 _They bring Their Children_

 _Rejoice Aloud._

 _Darkness They escape rejoice,_

 _The Great Devourer They elude_

 _It consumes the Universe._

 _Mourn._

 _The Devourer is the End,_

 _The End for all things,_

 _It consumes Light, Love and Song._

 _Silence_

 _Mahiambah, Great Mother sings,_

 _The Path of Dream She takes_

 _She gives Dardunah love and children._

 _Weep._

 _Mahitayah, Great Father dances_

 _He shapes Light and Warmth,_

 _He sets the twin crystals in Heaven._

 _Look and Rejoice._

 _The greater crystal is Lokaynu_

 _It shines bright and warm upon children_

 _Lokaynu is the second light of Dardunah._

 _See and Sing._

 _The lesser crystal is Edu_

 _It shines softly upon children,_

 _Edu is the first light of Dardunah._

 _See and Sing._

 _Light purifies and prepares the way,_

 _For the children of Great Father,_

 _For the children of Great Mother,_

 _Look._

 _Upon Dardunah They place Their children,_

 _Dardunah is his from the Devourer,_

 _Now it has gods, song and children._

 _Weep and Rejoice._

This was the part that had comprised Si'Ni's vision that she shared with others, now for the 2nd half of the ballad was the tale of what happened after...At this point both Eartha and Ringo were beginning to feel drowsy as their eyelids began to close...Si'Ni's song began to weave a dream for them...A dream of fantastic colors equal to that of any Earth rainbow...They began to see in their dreams...Si'Ni's visions of her homeland in Dardunah.

Si'Ni sang

" _Great Father and Mother dance in Heaven,_

 _Heaven is Light, Dardunah is far,_

 _The Children touch Dardunah,_

 _It gives them stance._

 _Feel and Rejoice_

 _Great Father and Mother's forms are many,_

 _Heaven is Light, Dardunah is far,_

 _Great Mother pours the Water of Heaven,_

 _The children have many forms._

 _Look and Rejoice._

 _The Water of Heaven is without form_

 _Heaven is Light, Dardunah is far,_

 _Great Father has many forms,_

 _The children have many forms._

 _See and Sing._

 _Water of Heaven flows from the Sea Salan,_

 _Heaven is Light, Dardunah is far_

 _The children receive the Water,_

 _The children are the Janah, shaped by Salan._

 _Rejoice_

 _The Janah touch Dardunah, it is far,_

 _Heaven is Light, Dardunah is far,_

 _They see Great Father and Mother,_

 _They have no song, no words._

 _Silence._

 _They cannot dance, cannot sing,_

 _Heaven is Light, Dardunah is far,_

 _They cannot give Song to the God,_

 _Tears are their only song, only love._

 _Weep._

 _Mahiambah weeps, Dardunah is silent,_

 _Heaven is Light, Dardunah is far,_

 _She sings the Janah to sleep,_

 _No love, no song, no words._

 _Silence._

 _She rides the Dreams, Dardunah is silent,_

 _Heaven is Light, Dardunah is far,_

 _She takes the Flute from Heaven,_

 _She takes the Music of Heaven._

 _Weep._

 _Mahitayah is angered, Heaven is silent,_

 _Heaven is Light, Dardunah is far,_

 _The Flute of Heaven is gone,_

 _The Music of Heaven is gone._

 _Listen._

 _Great Mother hides the Flute,_

 _Heaven is Light, Dardunah is far,_

 _In the bodies of the Janah, awake,_

 _Music is theirs, they have song._

 _Listen and Rejoice_

 _She teaches them the Song of Heaven,_

 _Heaven is Light, Dardunah is far,_

 _The music of Life, Dardunah sings,_

 _Janah sing to Heaven, listen._

 _Sing and rejoice._

 _Great Father hears the music,_

 _Heaven is Light, Dardunah is far,_

 _Dardunah sings to Heaven, listen,_

 _Great Father dances to the Music._

 _Sing and Rejoice._

 _Dardunah awakens, it sings,_

 _Heaven is Light, Dardunah is far,_

 _The Voice of Dardunah is the Janah_

 _The Janah are Dardunah's song, listen._

 _Sing._

 _Great Father weeps Fire on Dardunah,_

 _Heaven is Light, Dardunah is far,_

 _He dances to the Music,_

 _He gives the Janah Fire._

 _Look and Rejoice._

 _The Janah craft, they create as the gods,_

 _Heaven is Light, Dardunah is far,_

 _To Great Father and Great Mother they sing,_

 _They have words, song fire, craft, love._

 _Sing and Amen."_

As she finished that last first, Si'Ni gave a mighty gasp and quickly opened the cooler for a water bottle, and drank deep. After quenching her thirst "I'm not much of a singer..." She panted then she took another swig from the bottle

"That was still pretty good." Edward Green said "We Humans have a saying...Never attempt to teach a Pig to sing, it wastes your time and annoys the Pig...But from what we heard you've got some talent."

Si'Ni blushed "I realize what you're hearing is different from what I actually sound like…."

"Still," Said Ichabod "We like what we heard."

Seeing both Eartha and Ringo were fast asleep, Mikey said "Seems it's pretty effective as a lullaby, their out cold."

Of course Dardunah had many lullabies, the Journey Chant wasn't supposed to be one of them but, hey whatever works.

"If they wake up..." Don said "...They may still attempt to head outside...We need some rope."

They got out ropes from his Duffle Bag "I'll tie on end around my wrist and the other around Eartha's wrist...If she moves, I'll feel it."

Leo took the other rope..."Let me take Ringo Mikey." Leo said as he tied on end of the rope around his wrist "I feel I need to do more in actually helping them with their quest...Don's been doing most of that heavy lifting."

Everyone was tired, as they yawned and stretched, he strange illumination in the cavern began to dim though no one noticed...Artemis has doing so, with strange illuminating creatures called Ditzies, everyone was exhausted and as they began to settle down, Artemis caused some of the hidden plants in the cave to burst into bloom, sending a sweet smelling perfume to bring further sleepiness to those in the cave.

Before they finally fell asleep, Mikey had to ask Donny "Why have been so nice lately Donny? You're practically become like a Dad to Eartha and Ringo."

Don didn't want to reveal to Mikey what he barely was able to speak about to Morgan...His vision of his evil alternate self, so instead he said "Guess I've been feeling really Paternal lately...Been reading all about Babies to prepare for when Andromeda hatches...I've been practicing how to hold a Baby in my arms...Sometimes I start doing it at random."

Raph, was next to Donny, though his back was turned to him, he heard everything that was being said, he tensed up, even though he also was soon to be a Dad, he had been doing none of those things, now he was really starting to feel guilty about not doing so.

"The more I think about it..." Don said with a sigh "...The more I think that really...This is the best thing that ever happened to me..."

Finally they all drifted to sleep...However the perfume of the flowers would grant them a special sleep that would last for two days.

 _ **Ditzies are tiny creatures who provide the light for the caves in Fraggle Rock.**_


	9. Is it just me or did you get smaller?

_**So yeah...Here is where they finally get their growth spurt and like in MNT Gaiden now their as tall as Casey, here is why Artemis had them sleep for two whole days I recently learned the growth hormone only works during sleep, which as the one who explained this (The creator of webcomic Nature of Nature's Art**_ _ **Zachary Braun**_ __ _ **who explained this pointed out why one should take a nap after a bodybuilding workout (Zack explained he didn't nap which is why he didn't gain muscle mass)**_ _ **but I realized it figured Artemis had them all sleep as a means of speeding the Turtles growth spurt along and also ensuring Eartha and Ringo don't see the Night Rainbow (She also did the same thing for the Cows and Chickens in New Eden so they didn't become hostile when the Heroes emerge, the Insects weren't affected for reasons that will be revealed later.**_

When Don finally felt himself begin to awaken, the Cavern was illuminated again, though he didn't remember the dimming as he was falling asleep he was so tired...The soft sand had made a surprisingly cozy bed (If you didn't mind waking up with some sand in your mouth that is) He checked the rope on his wrist, Eartha was still tied to the other end of it. Eartha it seemed was still asleep...Don yawned and stretched...He felt so well rested, surely the night with the Aurora Borealis surely must have passed...That was when his stomach rumbled...He was was hungry...Incredibly hungry.

Don reached his hand over to the sleeping Mole-Girl he placed one hand on her black furry shoulder and nudged "Eartha..." He said softly "...Eartha are you awake? I think it should be morning."

Eartha curled her body up then uncurled it. She yawned without opened her eyes than smacked her dry mouth.

"Morning Donatello." She sounded barely awake

"Not a morning person are you?" Don said with a wry grin

"Why would I be a morning person?" Eartha said as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes "I'm nocturnal."

Don chuckled "I guess that figures...I'll untie us both in a minute."

Eartha yawned again as she sat up, still seeming to be unable to open her eyes as she rubbed them as Don worked on the knot on his own wrist (It was tied pretty tight)

"I want to thank you..." Eartha said "...For what you did for us last night...I'm sorry we gave you so much trouble...And that I didn't say anything last night."

"That's all right..." Don said as he continued to work on the knot "We...I know it's got to be hard for you two."

"Why did Belladonna not come with you?" Eartha asked seemingly out of the blue.

"Hmm?" Don hadn't expected that question.

"I mean...I saw other mated pairs are here, Raphael and Olive, Ichabod and Marzipan, Edward Green and Minsk...After you shared with us your Memory of Belladonna I started asking why you didn't you bring your mate with you if so many others did."

"Most of the mated pairs don't have children or children on the way..." Don said "I THINK Edward and Minsk are the only couple here with a Kid, and Minsk has several siblings that can take care of their Son if anything were to happen to both of them. Raph...His situation is complicated...He has a Kid on the way, but not with Olive...The Female whose having his Kid, he met before he met Olive...This Female, she really wanted a Baby and didn't think Raph would mind...Turns out he did mind they mostly worked things out just fine, but I think Raph now really wishes he waited...Because the one who's having his child, isn't the one he loves. I said to Belladonna that if I were to die, someone needs to stay to raise our daughter so..."

Eartha began to cry softly "I'm so sorry..." She said "...Causing you all this trouble...After all the trouble you've already had!

"Eartha...It's all right." Don said "Really you two have really helped me...Really I should be apologizing to you two...You two were in a really bad situation and I start confusing you with my own baggage...Really I feel bad that you two had to see my spat with Morgan...But we've started to work things out…"

"I know..." Eartha said as she wiped her eyes

Don stopped working out the knot and cocked his head "You know?" He asked

Eartha then gasped and covered her mouth in horror! Her body language told Don everything he needed to know.

"You eavesdropped on that conversation I had with Morgan the other day didn't you?"

Eartha nodded

"Strange..." Don said more to himself than anyone else "...As a Ninja I should have noticed something was nearby..."

"Both Ringo and I have very sharp hearing." Eartha said "We could hear you both from some distance away."

"I see." Don said as he finished uniting the knot and it fell from his wrist he didn't say anymore about it, But Eartha could see he wasn't pleased with this development But he merely said "Let me untie your knot."

As he approached her Eartha suddenly noticed something was different...Before she fell asleep Don was taller than her, Her long nose met his chest, Now as he was on his knees untying his knot, He seemed like a massive wall of reptilian flesh to her...Now she could see if they were both standing, her nose would now be at his belly, not his chest.

"Donatello..." She said "...Is it just me or did you get...Larger?"

"Larger, What do you mean?" Don hadn't noticed any difference yet.

"Seems before I fell asleep my nose would be at your chest but now it seems if we were to both stand my nose would be at your belly."

Don finally took a close look at his body, suddenly his arms and legs seemed even bulkier then usual...And when he stood up.

"Holy shell!" He exclaimed suddenly perspective wasn't what it once was "I'm as tall as Casey!"

 _ **I think that's enough for tonight, tune in next time, Same Turtle Time, Same Turtle Channel!**_


	10. Si'Ni's Story

_**Okeydokey time to get into the first of what are essentially the 'Acts' of this story after that beginning, the first is the rescue of the remaining Dardunah from the clutches of Doctor Rat, 2nd is when our heroes must travel to a secret metaphysical place so that Eartha and Ringo can learn in safety all they need to know to fulfill their destinies, and the final act will be the battle to end Doctor Rat once and for all these acts should take 10 to 20 chapters with this act most likely to be in the 20 chapter range**_

After some quick breakfast our Heroes finally left the strange cavern of the Mountain of Mystery. Returning to the Green Meadows of New Eden they were greeted by the same Mantis Guard.

"Where have you been?" The Mantis asked "You all were gone for two whole days!"

"Two...Days?" Don felt a bead of sweat trickle down the side of his head "Holy shell! That explains the growth spurt! The hormone that activates growth can only do its work during sleep...How..."

"Artemis." Marzipan said simply and Don realized that must have been the case.

"Did you see the Night Rainbow?" Eartha asked not knowing what to expect.

"I and the other Insects did." Said the Mantis. "But the Cows and Chickens in the Dragon Cave...While you were gone they all fell asleep for two days...And just woke up this morning...They claimed the smelled a strange sweet scent that caused them to feel sleepy."

The Turtles, Humanimals and Humans looked at each other "Glad to know Artemis has our backs." Leo said "But the Insects still saw the Night Rainbow."

"Indeed." Said the Mantis "It was very beautiful."

The Heroes shivered, this was chilling and confusing.

"Did you see anything in the Night Rainbow?" Eartha said "What did you think while you were watching it?"

"I only saw the beautiful play of colors." The Mantis said cocking its head "I suppose I only thought about what I saw...Why do you ask?"

Eartha and Ringo looked at each other "While the Cows and Chickens were sleeping we were as well." Eartha said "We also smelled a strange sweet scent while we were in the Cavern...Great Mother did not want us to see what Great Father made for us."

"Why?" Was all the Mantis could ask

"Great Mother and Great Father are in a great disagreement about how to solve the issue of the humans." Eartha said "Great Mother believes we can reach a peaceful solution, while Great Father thinks the only way we can survive is by exterminating the Humans...After seeing not all Humans are evil we side with Great Mother...The fact that you were not effected by the Night Rainbow as we or the Cows and Chickens would have been if they had seen it. It is clear Great Father does not hold you Insects in the same regard he hold us who have their Skeletons on the inside."

"We knew that." Said the Mantis calmly "We did not fight with the Vertebrates during the War with the Humans...We were incapable of Hearing Great Father's voice back then...And we scavenged on the Vertebrate Animals who were slain. Our deaths were after their were no more plants or carrion left to feed upon...Great Father resurrected us because we were necessarily to refertilize the Earth but we know that we must defer to Vertebrates as our Superiors."

That caused everyone, even Raph to really think for a moment...It was clear the Insects did what they did not because they were malicious but because back when they were ordinary animals they clearly weren't advanced enough to comprehend Apollo's message they simply were not intelligent enough so continued to act on base instinct.

Remembering from Si'Ni's song that these strange 'Janah' had their own 'Great Mother and Father' although these were two Mortal Humans who died and became Deities after their physical bodies died. Eartha turned to the Sow and said "Si'Ni..Is there anything you want to say?"

The Porcine Girl cocked her head and asked "Are you thinking I might be offended by the fact you have a Great Mother and Father that are not our Great Mother and Father? All I think is...I suppose both great and strange minds think alike but these...Dragons...As you call them, don't seem nearly as capable as our Great Mother and Father...In fact they seem..." She decided to stop herself...She realized that maybe this wasn't the time to say what she really thought about these two strange beings."

"Rather than talk about that..." Si'Ni said "...Since I finally freed my tail, I feel my spirit is free to finally tell you all the story of how I came to this place you call Earth."

Everyone formed a circle around Si'Ni as she prepared herself.

"For this story..." She began to say "...Since you granted me this strange ability to share memories by touching and focusing on the memory...I think first I will tell the first part of my capture simply by talking...But soon when I will get to...The stranger parts I struggle to explain with words...I will let some of you place your hands on me so I can show you what I saw and heard because it truly was strange beyond imagining!"

Raph chuckled amicably "Trust us Si'Ni we've seen quite a bit, I doubt it will be any weirder than anything we've ever seen."

Si'Ni smiled and blushed at his humor "I suppose...I don't know what you've seen so I guess we'll see when the time comes."

Si'Ni cleared her throat to begin her story.

"I was taken after returning from the market with fresh fruits and vegetables for the family's Tea House…" Si'Ni said "I simply turned a corner...And all of a sudden...The evening shadows...Reached out like arms and grabbed me!"

Mikey shuddered.

"The shadows grabbed you?" Leo stroked his chin in thought "Are you sure it may not have been...Some kind of shadow warriors disguising themselves who grabbed you?"

"Oh believe me." Si'Ni huffed "I know that Dardunah has many kinds of Shadow Assassins like yourselves...Different countries in Dardunah have different names for them, but I no full well what you are referring to and these were not them...They didn't feel made of flesh and bone they felt like...Some kind of slime...Or like putty...Yes like putty. They enveloped me...And for a while all was pitch black…"

 _Flashback_

 _When Si'Ni awoke she had a throbbing headache and she felt cold...Her eyes suddenly snapped open as she realized she was not naked...Not a stitch of clothing was left on her body, she sat up and covered her chest, than she looked around..._ _She saw she was in some kind of cage...It was the strangest cage she had ever seen it seemed to be constructed of some kind of shiny gray crystal...She peered through the bars and saw there was another similar cage across from hers with a different Janah at its occupant...It was Bat...Or as they are known as in Janah The Klin, Si'Ni peered closely and saw it was one of the smaller more nocturnal species of Klin...Seeing the Face, Si'Ni winced it seemed to be specifically the Breed of Klin that were rumored to feed on blood...She had heard tales about them feeding from the blood of Non-Klin Janah slaves...Still she couldn't see anyone else to communicate with she had to try with this Creature...Repulsive as he may seem...Klin Language is very strange for Non-Klin and she figured it was likely he didn't speak Nilami but she was also conversational in Tishnian known as the Trade Language in Dardunah and the most common 2_ _nd_ _language for all Janah, so she said in Tishnian "Do you speak Tishnian?"_

 _The Klin looked up from his wing-arms that were a better cover for his naked body than her own arms and croaked a hoarse "Yes."_

 _"Do you have any idea where we are?" She asked_

 _The Klin scowled and folded his ears back "No." He said "Why would I know that?"_

 _Si'Ni scowled "You seemed to have been awake long than I have." She huffed "You might have learned something."_

 _"I don't know anything about anything!" The Klin huffed back "I was taken by Shadows and..." They both heard the sounds of footsteps, they both shivered, they had no idea who or what their captors could be._

 _In walked a Creature covered head to toe in some strange suit that kept them from seeing or smelling what kind of creature he could possibly...At the time they weren't even sure if that was a suit (They both thought it could be war armor) The creature took something that looked like a watering can and inserting the spout through the bars poured water into bowls in their cages, then he gave them food. He dispensed some kind of blood for the Klin, and for Si'Ni_ _he poured in her bowl some kind of...Brown slop...That smelled like rancid meat. He did all this without opening their cages._

 _As he began to walk away, Si'Ni through herself against the Bars and yelled "Wait! Can't you at least tell us why we're here?!"_

 _The Strange Creature jumped for a moment but then continued on his way..."_

 _ **To be continued...**_


	11. It's a B Movie

_**I've recently gotten back into The Brave Little Toaster and learning that is really is a lot more complex than I remember from my childhood...I learned a few years ago that it was based on a book that is out of print and I've found I can find a reading of the Book on YouTube but still the Movie does a better job of getting you to feel the feels and the characters are a bit more developed**_

Si'Ni stopped her story for a moment grimacing as she remembered. "I suppose there isn't much more to that part of the story..." She sighed wistfully "...Our journey to this world was a relatively short one...But after what I have learned...About what we originally were...And that this place will consume intelligent beings for food...Oh Krilarah! That slop contained the flesh of some Janah creature! Weather it came from something intelligent or unintelligent I'm pretty sure I ate the flesh of a Janah Creature."

Everyone was certain when she said 'Janah Creature' she meant a Tetrapod as opposed to an Insect or a Fish...That all the Janah or 'People' of Dardunah were Tetrapod based and the Suthra or 'Animals' were all Insect or Fish based...And they could see regardless of weather the Slop came from an intelligent or unintelligent Tetrapod, Si'Ni felt she had done something dishonorable in consuming the flesh.

Si'Ni sighed "I think I shall now share with some of you...This part which is hard for me to explain...I and several other Janah encountered Creatures...Creatures similar to us but in some ways were even more strange than you all...They spoke a strange language, but they could comprehend us, and us them because they were all also...Able to communicate with their minds…"

"They were Telepaths." Ichabod said

"That is what they said..." Si'Ni nodded "For this memory, I want the four Human Men and the Four Turtle Brothers to place their hands on me...I feel that the four of you have the best chance of making sense of what we experienced with these...Telepath creatures..."

So the eight of them placed their hands on various parts of the Sow's head, shoulders and arms, and she began to concentrate on the memory.

 _Flashback_

 _Si'Ni was finding herself still in a cage, but that cage was being lifted and carted off by what the Earthlings could see was clearly a forklift but to Si'Ni it was the strangest thing she ever saw!_

 _The forklift placed her cage down in a cave...There seemed to be sunlight coming from somewhere above but from Si'Ni's angle she could see no opening._

 _The Several forklifts proceeded the add more cages, stacking some on top of the others including on Si'Ni's cage...cross from her, like before was the Vampire Bat Boy._

" _Klin have sorcery do they not?" Si'Ni called to the Klin Boy when it seemed the Humans driving forklifts were taking a break "Can you not cast a spell of any kind that might help?"_

 _The Klin's nose leaf turned bright red for a moment and he drew his wing arms around himself "Ah...Well...You see..." He stammered "I...I...I..." He murmured incoherently._

" _I can't hear you!" Si'Ni squealed_

" _I don't have any sorcerous talent!" The Klin screamed shrilly "I'm one of the few Klin who can't cast even the simplest of spells! That's probably how I got caught in the first place!" He then broke down crying in shame._

" _They have also caught Sir'hibas..." Came a Voice right next to Si'Ni's cage, a deep masculine voice. Si'Ni's porcine nose sniffed and she detected the Scent of Wolf...Indeed a Grey Lupine Muzzle stuck out from the bars of the cage "They were all taken out of their cages and taken away..." The Male Wolf said "...We have not seen or heard anything from them since...I believe they are now all dead."_

 _"Who are you?" Si'Ni asked "How long have you been here?"_

 _"I am General Gopa, from Kutta..." The Wolf said in Tishnian "...I have not been here long...A day I think…Time here doesn't seem to pass the way in does in Dardunah..."_

 _Then came strange laughter from above they heard the voice speaking in a language they had never heard before, but they also heard in their heads "Oh you Creatures! They only have to keep you in cages! But for us Dream Creatures...They must bind us much tighter!"_

 _Various Janah asked the Strange Voice who he was, and where was he?_

 _"I am Tantabus..." Said the Voice "...I come from a Place known as the realm of Dreams...Where I come from we can all speak and hear with our minds as well as our voices!"_

 _The Janah who knew of their Own Dream Realm as a Place where the Sir'hibas work their Sorcery were left very confused by this strange new creature…_

 _That was when two Humans wearing Lab Coats came in looking at all the various Janah they had captured, when they turned at last to the Vampire Bat Boy, he shuddered in fright and he seemed to be the one the Humans wanted they opened the cage, and quickly retained the Bat Boy before he could bite or claw them, they placed a muzzle on his head...As the Klin was a scrawny adolescent. The Two Scientists were able to carry him between the two of them without further assistance. The Klin Boy screamed in terror and protested this treatment as he was carried away...Everyone could hear him continuing to shriek long after he had disappeared from sight._

 _The strange laughter came again and finally the Creature descended...He seemed to also be a Bat but different from what they knew as Klin...He was black as Jet they saw a black chain was attached to him, and to their horror they saw the end of the chain seemed embedded in his very back! So this seemed to be how these 'Dream Creatures' were bound._

" _You see!" Laughed the Black Bat "You never quite know what they're going to do...They're so spontaneous..."_

 _Si'Ni at this point had just about enough of this horror and finally asked "Well, well, well...Well how do we escape?!"_

 _"Did you here that Boys?!" The Bat asked his unseen Fellows "They actually want to know how to escape!" Roars of raucous laughter...And some strange Music unlike anything any of the Janah had heard before. (It was the sound of a Pipe Organ) came down from above._

 _The Dream Creatures...Some resembling Janah Species...Some resembling creatures they had never seen before sang...They sang with their voices but all the Janah could also hear what they meant in their heads._

" _Watch yourself!" The Dream Creatures sang "Don't fall off of the shelf!"_

 _A Female White Rabbit purred "You must be the new boys in town..."_

 _Si'Ni found herself singing her question "What's that sound? Is someone moving around?"_

 _"Sit down for a spell..." Said the Black Bat coming right up to her cage "...You don't look so well."_

 _"Wait a minute I feel great!" Sang a Sloth Creature "You just leave yourself to fate!" He jumped down before General Gopa "You might as well just hang around..."_

 _Two More Creatures a Hummingbird and a Blue Ringed Octopus (Which isn't a Creature found in Janah) Sang "It's too late...We've got to operate!"_

 _"Just try to relax..." Purred the Black Bat "...It's a house of wax!"_

 _Several Dream Creatures jumped into the aisle formed by the two stacks of cages dancing, the chains in their backs lashing behind them as they sang_

" _Oh I remember Frankenstein! Shivers up my spine! Whoa-Oh!"_

 _The Janah who had no knowledge of 20th Century Earth Culture had no idea what they were talking about, it was all gibberish to them, General Gopa sang "I'm for getting out of here!"_

 _"No need to shout my dear!" Sang the Creatures "No-Oh!"_

 _Several Creatures including the Octopus crowded around Si'Ni's cage singing "Who will go to the cellar down below?"_

 _"Trouble is a bubbling in the brew..." Came a Giant Creature that seemed have Sarpah, Half Paksin (It's was a Tyrannosaurus Rex)_

" _And while you're down there Mr. Vincent Price  
Will give you good advice..." Sang The Creatures...Still the Janah had no idea what these Creatures were talking about "He'll know what to do...You just tell him BOO!"_

 _The Giant Dinosaur danced as he and everyone else sang "He will put the Voodoo in the stew, I'm telling you!" And with that the Giant Dinosaur's skin vanished and he collapsed into a Pile of Bones._

" _It's like a movie_ _  
_ _It's a B-movie show_ _  
_ _It's like a movie_ _  
_ _It's a B-movie show_ _"_

 _With that a new Creature dropped in...In their horror they could see she was actually three different creatures sown together, her front half was a Lioness, her back half was Goat and her tail was that of a Snake…_

" _Look at me!" The Creature said "I mean really! Barf! Barf! Barf! I'm a Lion, a Goat and Snake...Oh God! I'm a Mish-Mash!"_

 _W_ _ith that the Chimera collapsed and was pulled back up by some...Tentacles?"_

" _This is weird." Said Gopa._

" _It's much worse than I feared." Said the Emperor Tamarin next to him_

 _Si'Ni finally said "I'll close my eyes and make it disappear…" But then opened her eyes to see more creatures crowding around her cage_

" _Yes, they're strange!" Sang the Janah_

 _"It ain't home on the range!" Sang the Dinosaur now with his Skin Back on again_

" _You just tell St. Pete..." Sang the Dream creatures "...That you got cold feet!"_

 _Just then the sunbeams began to fade...All the Janah sang, be they Furred Vajrah, Feathered, Paksin or Scaled Sarpah, weather they were from the Holy Caste or the Lowly Outcaste, they all clasped their hand together in prayer as they sang "There goes the sun, here comes the night...Somebody turn on the light..."_

 _All the Janah turned their eyes above hoping someone could hear their prayer as they sang "Somebody tell me that fate has been kind..."_

 _And at that moment every Janah felt a hand...And that was a Shadow and yet could still be felt wrap around each individual throat as the creatures sang "You can't get out you are out of your mind!"_

 _"_ _It's like a movie  
_ _It's a B-movie show_ _  
It's like a movie  
It's a B-movie show"_

 _As the Creatures sang their final notes being brought back into the air by their Chains, Si'Ni knew she couldn't die here...Somehow...Someway...She had to find a way to escape!_

 ** _F_ _un fact in several of the international Dubs of The Brave Little Toaster Lampy is often made into a female with the other Character who is often changed into a female is Blanky often because 'Blanket' is a feminine noun in several languages, so it makes sense for Si'Ni to be singing Lampy's lines_**


	12. By the Stone that Freed Me

_**So here is where we get to the part where Si'Ni managed to free herself the chapter's title is inspired by 'By the lock that freed me' part of Bagheera's backstory in the original Jungle Books Novels by Rudyard Kipling.**_

Si'Ni ended the memory and everyone pulled back feeling somewhat dizzy from the experience.

"Man..." Mikey said as he rubbed his eyes "...When we were captured by Bishop it was like our worst nightmare come true...But that...Was like you know...An actual dream...With weird stuff that happens for no reason."

"Like...If that had happened to me..." Raph said "...Before I knew there were places where People actually sing and dance like a Broadway musical...I would have thought I had actually been taken to Hell."

Si'Ni wrinkled her nose and snorted "I felt too alive to believe I was in hell." She said "However...It seemed after that everyone believed that this was some kind of punishment the Devah had bestowed upon them...For various things they had done...Or not done..."

 _Flashback_

 _The Dream Creatures withdrew after that, for a moment all was silent, then, in the distance came the strange voices of the creatures who had captured them, their were raucous sounds that seemed like laughter...And Si'Ni's ears could not mistake the distinct sounds of chewing...Seemed the captors had chosen this time to eat...Perhaps they would be distracted enough they could escape!_

 _"I think our captors are distracted!" Si'Ni called to everyone "I think they've chosen this time to eat, and I don't see or hear or smell any guards...Maybe we can escape."_

 _"What would be the point?" Asked General Gopa "These creatures...They wield strange machines unlike anything we've seen in Dardunah...They must have some kind of sorcery..."_

 _"More than sorcery..." Came a Voice from the opposite stack, it was an elderly white goat. "...I can see now...That this is divine punishment as decreed by the Devah."_

 _"What?!" Si'Ni exclaimed_

" _Yes." The Old Goat nodded "I can see that the day has come when all Janah are to be punished for their fell deeds...None shall be spared, not even the Holy Caste! I know I'm being punished for failing to live up to the ideals of my Caste...That I was not charitable enough and even stole from the poor on occasion!"_

 _Si'Ni thought about that and she didn't doubt the Crimes the Goat Priest claimed he committed were indeed bad but the Holy Texts already stated what Hell was for Fell Janah...This wasn't what was described in the Partakam!_

 _General Gopa sighed "I see..." He said "...I have also been less than noble...I have tortured innocent Peasants in my quest to get information about the enemy..."_

 _Si'Ni realized that everyone was starting to believe the Old Goat "I don't believe my ears! She exclaimed_

" _Alas..." Said the Emperor Tamarin "...I have done many wicked things as a spy...Beyond what I was tasked to do by my Lord..."_

 _Si'Ni clutched her head "They are all succumbing to despair!" She said to herself "If I don't do something soon I might succumb to it as well!"_

 _She turned and looked at what she could see outside the bars of her cage...That was when she saw it...A rock...A white rock...Had it always been there and she was only noticing it just now? It looked like a rough oblong shape, just narrow enough the if she grabbed it, she could pull it between the bars of her cage. She reached her left hand from the bars of the cage and grabbed it, indeed she was able to pull it into her cage._

" _Feels fairly heavy." She said feeling the lock in her hand "Could it possibly be strong enough to break the lock?"_

 _She turned her ears, she could still hear the Strange Captors raucously eating and laughing...She prayed their ears wouldn't be sharp enough to hear what she was about to do._

 _She began banged the rock against the part of the cage door where the lock was. Everyone froze for a moment as they feared the Captors would notice._

 _But Si'Ni furiously pounded at the lock with with the stone "I...Will...Not...Die here..." She grunted "I...Will...LIVE!"_

 _And with that she finally smashed the lock, and the door swung open! For a moment the Janah were silent, then they all gave a great cheer as Si'Ni stepped out of her cage and was finally able to stand erect!_

 _Of course she knew she quickly had to run! She saw the Captors in some distant corner of the cage, at the moment their backs were turned...She ran in the opposite direction to some dark cave tunnel._

 _She heard the other Janah calling after her "Run Sow Run!" and "You're our only hope!"_

 _End Flashback._

"I wandered those caves for a long time..." Si'Ni sighed. "Perhaps the most terrifying thing that happened, was at first I saw the face of a Pink Pig like myself, for a moment I thought it was someone who could help us...I approached him...Then I saw he wasn't...Normal...By Janah standards anyway...On his head was a golden mane...Like a Lion...His feet were hooves...And then I saw his eyes...Tiny pinprick pupils...Those were the eyes of a Demon! And then he reached out to me...Slobbering like some kind of devouring beast! I screamed and made a sharp turn to the nearest tunnel I could find."

"Trotter..." Marzipan said darkly

 _ **I guess that's enough Tune in next time Same Turtle Time, Same Turtle Channel!**_


	13. Broken Again to Finally Heal

_**So apparently tomorrow night and the night after that will be meteor showers...I remember one many years ago...It was one of the most beautiful things I ever saw. I wasn't quite sure what to do with this chapter, here I think I will have Jonathan Crane and Edward Nygma fill in some of their backstory on how they came to be reformed. Warning contains discussion of rape specifically men raping other men...In prison...Very much inspired by the brilliant BTAS Fanfic 'One of those Nights' by PengyChan check out that story if you can.**_

After telling that long story the Alien Sow went off to be by herself and decompress after reliving all those horrific memories.

While they weren't privy to the part that involved 'Harkaskeerah' or sharing memories through skin contact. Hearing the parts that were told verbally, Eartha and Ringo sat with dumbfounded expressions on their faces. They didn't know what to process first...The strange new horrors that were being done to the Animals...Or the fact that in this strange place called Dardunah where their were no Humans at all...Animals did bad things, like steal and torture and other things...Wow it was almost like Humans weren't the source of all evil and that Animals are also capable of being wicked! Eartha's mind began to work...More and more Great Father was seeming less and less all-benevolent and loving and more just-as-bad as the Humans he opposed if not worse!

Ringo slithered over to Morgan, he stopped short of actually touching, her he stood for a few moments, his forked tongue flickering in and out...Before he finally figured out how to phrase what he wanted to say.

"Morgan..." The Smaller Snake blushed even redder than his belly before the Black Mamba "...Is there...Something I can do...Something you want be to do...For you to become my mate?"

Morgan was than dumbfounded herself for a few moments, than frowned, cocking her head to the side said "I'm not sure it's possible for us to become mates at all Ringo. We are from two different Earths...Ideally you live in the World you were born in...Stay out of your world for too long...The longest we have calculated is a year and half...You start to become ill and eventually die...The only known antidote to this malady is to wear a band of Fairy Gold around your neck so you can live outside your own world."

"Where can I find a band of Fairy Gold?" Ringo asked "I can come and live in your world! This world isn't really that much of a place to live anyway!"

"Ringo." Morgan said "I think you are needed along with Eartha to stay in the world and help it become a better place...That seems to be what Your Great Mother has planned for the two of you...Anyway..." Morgan began to slither away "...You still don't don't know the full extent of what I've done...If you knew that...You wouldn't want me for your mate." With that she slithered into a currently vacant Beetle Burrow.

Don knew however that Ringo had eavesdropped along with Eartha. He folded his arms and scowled. For the moment he would reveal the two Revenants' snooping in front of everyone. But he made a mental note to himself to have a word with Ringo that if he had learned about Morgan's secret. Maybe he should tell her that he knows and that he still wants to be her mate to prove he truly loves her.

"Hey Donny." Bill said "Why have done a complete 180 on Morgan? You absolutely hated her before...Now you're feeling bad for her."

Holy Shell, that Bull-Boy was sharp as a tack. Don really didn't want to reveal the true nature of his epiphany to everyone. He hoped he could get away with the 'metaphorical truth' by saying "When I went in that cave...I had a dream...The dream caused me to realize I was really being to harsh on her...Especially since we have let even worse things slide...Like Karai trying to kill us...But afterwards we invited her to April and Casey's Wedding."

This seemed good enough for Bill...He once experienced an extraordinary vision...When the Fellowship Herd first rescued Ichabod and Bill was still vehemently against Humans and Humanimals working together in the same ship. He managed to get Ichabod to run away by viciously pranking him, then terrifying him when Ichabod lost his tempter at him. After getting a dressing down from Matoaka and being sent out to find the runaway Human...Bill stormed into the Meadow where he just fumed in his typical bovine manner until he saw a vision of his own Father, Bull-Man Charles Brandy in the sky basically telling him 'Humanimals are supposed to be loving creatures so stop being a racist dick' to paraphrase the message.

Jonathan sighed as he wiped the grass from the bottom of his shoes. "I know what you went through was extremely painful in more ways than one Donatello." He said "But...This is something I've been wanting to tell you for a while, but I had to wait until to you were calm enough to be receptive to it...I was raped...Brutally sodomized...By the wretched Lyle Bolton when he was the Chief of Security at Arkham...But now I'm able to see that if I wasn't raped...I would have never reformed...Yes, I know that's a horrible thing to say, but reality isn't politically correct...The way I see it, it was like when you have to re-break a bone to get it to heal properly...I was a monster back in those days Donatello...Lashing out at the world believing there to be no good in it because of how horribly I had been treated by almost everyone during my childhood...Here it seemed my spirit had to be re-broken...After experiencing probably the one thing I hadn't suffered in childhood...Being sexually violated...I know now...Something inside me...Just broke along whatever blood vessels broken when I was sodomized...I had no choice to realize I was no 'God of Fear' after that...Spreading fear and crushing innocent peoples' spirits had gotten me nowhere but here...So as I lay bleeding...The first yearnings deep in my spirit cried out...Though at the time I didn't know...That small innocent part of me, that some people call the Inner Child...Had been re-awakened...Like when I was first born, it cried out for love...Tenderness...It wasn't sexual gratification I wanted...No...I simply wanted kindness...Emotional intimacy rather than physical intimacy...It was a long slow process...First I made an attempt to be a Teacher again under the name Irving Diedrich, where I befriended a Student named Molly Randell and well...I'll divulge more about that story later...But after being put back in Arkham again...Evie...Came to Arkham as a Psychiatrist and...You know what happened from there..."

 _ **Molly Randell is a reference to the story 'Study Hall' in the Gotham Adventures spin-off comic to Batman the Animated Series.**_


	14. The Conjuring

_**Yeah...Here is the Chapter in which I bring Rana and Charlie, my Tree Frog Mutant and my Pen Pal's Gray Squirrel Mutant in the story as a sort of...Extended cameo...Their roles here aren't as great as it is in their own story The Secret Ring of Honor but we will learn some interesting tidbits about them nonetheless.**_

As the Sun began to set Morgan slithered out of her hole. "I just had a vision." She said "We need to travel back to the Motel!"

"Why?" Asked Ichabod

"No time to explain now!" Morgan hissed "We only have a very short amount of time to do this...It has to be performed at the midnight hour...We don't need to bring everyone but I do need Marzipan with me to assist with the spell casting."

So the Group to Travel back to the Motel consisted of Morgan, Marzipan,Ichabod, Bill, Donatello, Leonardo, Eartha, Ringo, Eleanor, Triguena and the Five Mutant Cubs. The Cubs were eager to see some spells being cast as was Triguena. Eartha and Ringo were both curious to see what was to be done at the Motel and also they did want to see the Motel again now that so much about themselves had changed.

As they approached the Motel Morgan found the place where most of the cleaning supplies were kept. There was actually a washer and dryer machine on the premise along with other things one didn't expect to find in a modern Motel.

"So..." Marzipan said "...We're finally here...What do you have in mind?"

"I had a vision as I slept." Morgan said as she opened the washing machine. "That we'll need to get something from the place called Stone City but to get it, we'll need someone to distract everyone else while we take what we need..."

"I find your vagueness disturbing Morgan." Leo said "What is this thing we need and why do we need a distraction to get it."

"We need a transportation vehicle from Stone City." Morgan said "My dream was incredibly vague on what it looked like so I was hesitant in describing it...However to steal something that large from a city of Millions we'll need something to distract the people...My vision explained to me the ones who can do that our not with us yet, but they will be..." She turned on the Washing Machine "I always say you can't go wrong with a good old-fashioned conjuring...Haven't done one for a while."

Leo and Don looked each other

"Let me guess." Don said "The washing machine is meant to be a substitute cauldron."

Morgan nodded "From our experience of Sorcery." Morgan "The words and the gestures are more important than the paraphernalia the exact objects are less important than the spell casters themselves."

Marzipan looked at Tri. "Something tells me, you want to join?"

The Mutant Margay's large eyes sparkled "Can I really?" She chirped

"This conjuring is a lot less dangerous than other kinds of spells." Marzipan purred "Besides I think you already have an idea of how these things are done...I can tell just by looking at you."

Tri squeaked with delight as she ran over to join the two other Beast-Witches

Marzipan grabbed a copper stick, rolled up her sleeves and said "We conjure and abjure thee...By means of this long and terrible copper stick..."

Tri took some things down from the shelves "See how we scatter...Really old washing soda...And extremely hard soap flakes...In thy honor..." She poured said washing soda and soap flakes into the washing machine

"Now you Morgan." Said Marzipan

"And I invoke and bind thee..." She said holding up her things "...With the balding scrubbing brush are Art, and the washboard of Protection!"

As the Washing Machine foamed over with bubbles Leo and Don couldn't help but feel they listened to a Mad Lib trying to pass itself as an incantation…

Then, the Washing Machine erupted like a volcano with foam and bubbles! And out of the spray to figures tumbled forward...One a Red-Eyed Tree Frog wearing a feminine clothing, the other a Gray Squirrel wearing a simple white T-Shirt and a pair of shorts. They both came to a rather crashing landing to the floor. Instantly Leo recognized them. 

"Holy Shell!" Leo exclaimed "Rana, Charlie, is that you?!"

The two Mutants were seeing stars for a moment but then as their vision cleared they looked and saw where they were.

"What the hell was that?!" Rana exclaimed

"Are you all right?" Leo asked

When the Frog, Rana saw who she was talking to she smiled and said "Oh we're fine Leonardo, but still that doesn't answer my question of What the hell was that?!"

Leo and Don turned to the two Witches, who were both rather surprised by what they had conjured, both had their own ideas of what they would need for a distraction, and neither of these two were what they imagined. (Both sort of imagined they would conjure Humanimals like themselves instead of Mutants."

"Well..." Marzipan said "...My guess is that both of you were feeling very bored and wishing something interesting would happen, and the spell sensed that and latched onto you for that reason."

The Frog and Squirrel looked at each other "We were actually feeling really bored in that moment." The Squirrel Charlie said "And then suddenly we felt we were being blown away by a great wind."

"You know these two Leo?" Don asked

"They're part of my new Martial Arts Class." Leo said as he had recently set up a Dojo in Forest to teach Martial Arts to any Mutants who wished to learn.

"You met us Donatello." Charlie said "Remember...We were among the Mutant Warriors you gave your Mutated Salmonella to."

Don blushed "Oh shell." He said "There were so many of you...And I guess I couldn't think straight at the moment, I barely remember any of you who I..."

"It's cool now..." Rana said "...It's not like we hate you for what you clearly didn't know but geez! That was possibly the most miserable day of my life!" Rana said "I thought I would die!"

 _ **Oh Rana...Soon you'll see what the future has in store for you, Tune in Next Time for more Banter between the various characters.**_


	15. The Meteor Shower

_**Merry Christmas Eve Everybody! In this Chapter, we have some banter between the characters and learn a bit more about Rana and Charlie's time at Maison De Fauna, and also learn why this was the night Morgan had to do the conjuring. It occurred to me the Conjuring is like a perfect metaphor for the TMNT RPG Random Character Generation, you do feel like you're conjuring a new character into existence with no idea of what you're gonna get**_

The Rana and Charlie's eyes adjusted to the darkness, they got sight of Morgan

"What is SHE doing here?!" Morgan exclaimed

"It's a long story..." Marzipan sighed "...The point is, you can trust Morgan now...She's had...Her evil blasted out of her." Marzipan tried to think of the best way to explain it to these two.

The Frog and the Squirrel looked at Marzipan "How exactly does that work?" Charlie asked

"I'm sorry for what I did to you." Morgan said quietly

"Yeah..." Charlie said narrowing his eyes at the Black Mamba-Girl "You really took us for a ride Morgan?"

Just then, Morgan realized something, she didn't remember seeing the Female Frog's face when she took all the Female Mutant Residents of Maison De Fauna out into the storm to hypnotize them!

"How come I didn't you you on the night of the Storm before the Battle began?" Morgan asked Rana

For a moment Rana wasn't sure what Morgan was talking about then she thought "Oh! That was because that was our spa day." She said

"What?!" Morgan exclaimed

"Yeah." Rana said "There's this Japanese Lady who's an Old Friend of our previous Sensai...She now runs a Spa in Northampton, and she's promised us we can always come for free, get a massage, the sauna, anything we want or need...We left at like 3 in the Afternoon that day, got massages and even acupuncture...Than when the storm hit...She decided it was much to dangerous for us to try to travel back to the Mansion in that Weather so she let us stay the night over."

Morgan's tongue flickered in and out rapidly as she thought, already she was sensing something from this two Mutants, these two were much better than the average Mutants in Maison De Fauna...There was something about them that was similar to the Turtles...It wasn't just that they were probably Mutated by the same Ooze, it was the mention of 'Sensai' that caused Morgan to realize these two were both probably trained in the art of Ninjitsu.

"I see now." Morgan said

Everyone turned and looked at them

"These two Mutants are also Ninjas." Morgan said "That's why the spell summoned you…"

"Where are we anyway?" Morgan asked

"Utah." Ichabod said

A look of horror crossed Rana's face "Utah?" The Frog-Girl asked "Like a Desert?"

"Actually the nearby areas are pretty green..." Ichabod began to say

"The point is it's dry here!" Rana said "I can't handle a place that's dry! If I don't get enough humidity I start having troubles breathing, I break out into hives, it's not pretty!"

"Oh geez." Don said seeing what Rana was getting at "It's because you're a Rain Forest Frog aren't you?"

"Yeah." Rana said folding her arms "New York is just barely humid enough for my tastes."

"There's lots of water in New Eden..." Eartha said

That was when Rana and Charlie noticed the two Revenants, in particular Charlie looked the Mole-Girl up and down and he blushed under his gray fur.

Rana and Charlie went over to Leonardo and Donatello "Who are those two?" He asked

"The Mole is named Eartha." Don said "The Ring-Neck Snake is Ringo...They are natives of this Alternate Earth and they are Revenants...Which means they were previously dead...And as they were being resurrected they were transformed into Anthropomorphic Creatures like ourselves.

The two Mutants looked at each other, Rana shuddered "Getting some serious Frankenstein vibes from this whole thing..." She said

"I mean...Does that have anything to do with why they're both naked as Jaybirds?" Charlie asked "I mean I know you guys walk around in only your accessories...But you're reptiles, but Mammals...And actually...Female Mutants of all Species really should cover up...It causes issues for the Males if they don't."

"They have undergone some serious trauma." Don said "Both from their initial deaths when they were ordinary Animals and from being raised afterwards in an Anti-Human Cult, we've been teaching them about the better side of Humanity bit-by-bit and hopefully soon will teach them not to walk around commando but...First things first...We need to prevent this Earth from erupting into another war between the Humans and all the other Animals."

"And why do you need us exactly?" Morgan asked

"According to Morgan." Calm the Serene Maternal Voice of Eleanor "Is we need you two to provide a distraction while we still a vehicle for transportation from a place called Stone City."

Rana and Charlie both still had extreme fondness for Eleanor even if they could see she went a bit...Tipsy with power...After getting the Gaia Emerald, they still knew that deep down that Eleanor really cared about her fellow Mutants, all she wanted was to create a world where they could be free. They were both happy that she was their Mayor and would happily follow her to war again should they ever need to, she was the closest thing to a Mother either of them had ever had.

As they left the Motel and began making the Journey back to New Eden, Morgan checked the time.

"2 AM." She said "You'll soon see why I needed to do the conjuring this very night. Look into the sky..."

Everyone turned and looked into the sky...They saw a meteor streak across the sky!"

"Wow!" Eartha exclaimed "I didn't know stars could do that!"

"They aren't stars exactly." Morgan explained "All though the common name for them is shooting stars...What they are is meteors, bits of space rock traveling through space and when they come into Earth's atmosphere they burn up creating that brief spark of light and beauty...Tonight there will be many of them it's called a meteor shower...I saw this would happen it my dream and I knew it would be a good night for conjuring but only at the Midnight Hour exactly."

Don smiled seeing the meteors streaking across the night sky.

"I suppose we can take a moment to stay and watch for a while." He said as he sat down on a rock.

Ichabod and Marzipan lay side by side, Ichabod turned and looked at Eartha and Ringo, Ringo coiling around Eartha for warmth and Eartha said "This is so much better than a Night Rainbow..."

Ichabod however was starting to fade fast, as he fell asleep by Marzipan's side, she kissed his cheek and purred "Good Night, My Prince of Flowers."

 _ **I have been waiting to give Ichabod the title 'Prince of Flowers' for a while now, at least since the Mutant Riots. Some of you may no that there was a Meteor Shower a week ago, one that would happen on two nights, I wanted to watch them, but both nights there seemed to be a massive blanket of cloud covering the entire SoCal sky those nights.**_


	16. Thorny Issues

_**So...Yeah, I realized I've been posting a lot of chapters which only have OCs, no Canon Characters, gotta remedy that with this chapter.**_

Upon returning to New Eden with the Sunrise, Rana immediately searched for the nearest body of water and hopped in with a tremendous splash.

The Humans and Turtles of the group decided they really needed a wash and decided to take a dip in the hot spring.

Time to begin to plan the next course of action, Eartha and Ringo however wanted to be by themselves, so they went off the pick fruit or something,

So the Turtles, the Fellowship Crew and their Relations, and the Morning Glories sat in the hot spring, most of them did, the Feline Morning Glories, Olive and Chloe sat on the edge and basked in the hot hot sun.

Raph like his brothers and stripped off his usual accessories leaving only his eye patch, her turned to his Feline Fiance "The water's warm Sweetie..." He beckoned her the come in

Olive's eyelids lowered "I'm fine, Thanks." And with that she rolled onto her back in a very Feline Manner and began to wriggle on the warm stone.

"A lot of Cat Humanimals still don't like getting wet." Marzipan said "In my family we're all taught from a very early age to tolerate baths, it wasn't until after I was enslaved I started to love water."

"A Ragdoll Cat really isn't built for roughing it." Samantha said "I can see like a million split end on you."

"You've been incredibly quiet." Bill turned to his Human Girlfriend "Something on your mind?"

"I've simply haven't had anything to say." Samantha said "But I have been watching and listening...There is something incredibly eerie about New Eden...Something I can't quite put my finger on...This Land seems alive in a way beyond what is normal...That it has a mind of its own."

This struck Ichabod, he looked around and began to think.

"One thing for certain." Jonathan said as he leaned back "Thanks to that Sow Si'Ni we know somethings that Doctor Rat and Trotter have been up to, or at least parts of the things, and we know he has been abducting creatures from Dimensions other than First or Third Earth."

"We have no idea how many Janah are left since Si'Ni escaped." Edward Nygma said "Will there be any left to rescue?"

Just then, anther splash from the nearby spring was heard, everyone turned their heads to see the Gray Squirrel Charlie following the Tree Frog Rana was they swan in a circle in their spring.

"That Squirrel is a pretty good swimmer." Bill elbowed Jim, Jim shifted, he knew his Bovine BFF had no way of knowing of the age-old rivalry between Red-Squirrels and Gray Squirrels this was not even common knowledge among all the Rodent Humanimals, but all Humanimals who were Squirrel Species knew you do not put American Grays and Eurasian Reds together unless you want a brawl, Jim simply started cleaning the dirt out from under his claws and said "I guess it figures he can swim since his Herd Sister…" Jim looked at the Turtles glaring at him for the Humanimal Term "...His Sister..." Jim said "...Is a Frog."

Meanwhile, Morgan was also by herself, she was gathering herbs she knew she might need for brewing potions, she sensed someone was nearby, she looked up to a rock hanging above her, she saw the dainty face of Ringo above her.

"Morgan." Ringo said quietly, delicately, "I've been thinking about...You...And me...And this thing that is called Love that is distinct from mating...I have been thinking about things...I want to touch you...I want to kiss you..."

Morgan was still as a statue and completely expressionless.

"And I realize..." Ringo sighed "...That what love is...Is that I must prove I am worthy of being your mate...And I must do that by saving my world from Doctor Rat."

But as he finished that, his tongue caught a scent, the scent of blood...He looked down at Morgan.

"You're bleeding." He said

"It's just a little wound." Morgan said

Ringo frowned "Show me where it is." He said as he slithered down to where she was.

Morgan held up her right elbow for him to see, there was a small scrape there. Ringo's tongue flickered in and out as he glared at it

"See, it's only a little wound." Morgan said

"Even a little wound can become infected in the wilderness." Ringo said "How did you get it?"

"I scraped it on a thorn bush." Morgan said as she began to slither away "Ringo, I'll be fine! I was born and raised in the Forest I know how to take care of myself!"

"Someone who was born and raised in the forest doesn't just scrape herself on a thorn bush for no reason!" Ringo said as he furiously waggled his finger at her "Tell me what's wrong!"

Morgan then began to break into a rolling hissing laugh, Ringo simply stared at her for a few moments having no idea what to make of this.

"Oh Ringo!" She said "You have just proven you are a worthy mate."

"I did?" Ringo was confused

"Yes." Morgan said "You did."

 _ **Don't worry, they're not going to make out just yet.**_


	17. Prince of Flowers

_**This is where Ichabod will 'commune' with the plants of New Eden but in doing so will do some very strange things to his body.**_

Edward Green had dug out his old 'Hunter' Costume from his Wrangler days out of his backpack, despite renouncing the Ways of the Wrangler he kept finding himself back in his old Suit for various reasons.

It was a beautiful costume, mostly black but with red boots, cape and domino mask, Edward Nygma saw the similarities to his own costume but also saw its differences this was a costume meant to terrify Humanimals! The black and red was to give the appearance of some ghoulish creature of the night.

Mikey thought the costume was awesome, but the other Turtles were more skeptical.

"The cape seems like it would just be a hazard..." Don said "...Just an easy thing for enemies to latch onto."

Edward Green scoffed "In any case I'm gonna scout out this Stone City tonight before we make the journey there together, anyone want to come with me?"

"Normally I would." Ichabod said "But I have something...I want to investigate..."

"What is that?" Edward Green asked

"I'm not sure..." Ichabod said

Edward Green shrugged "It's probably better I scout out alone anyway."

Ichabod went into a grove of trees and found the tree he was looking for, a massive willow tree with it's vines dangling in a nearby brook.

"You're the one I've been looking for." Ichabod said to the willow tree, while not as crazy about plants as his Mom, Ichabod did have a fondness for them particularly the more beautiful specimens.

Ichabod took off his shirt "I hope you're beauty is within as well as without..." Ichabod continued to speak to the willow tree "...Because I'm coming to you for help..."

Ichabod had been getting...Feelings...He wasn't sure why he had to do this a certain way...He just...Felt it to be so...He took a single grain of wheat he had taken from the nearby wheat fields, placed it in his belly button and he sat down nestled in the roots of the tree, placing his arms along the great roots and he took a deep breath thinking his questions to the tree as he leaded his head against the trunk.

Meanwhile Rana and Charlie had more questions about who the heck Eartha and Ringo were, Don volunteered to fill them in

Don took their hands in his hands and began the process of Harkaskeerah to show them memories.

 _Flashback_

T _he bite on Don's butt was large, blood oozed from everywhere a tooth punctured his flesh, and it was starting to itch._

" _Moles have venomous saliva." Ichabod said "However if Eartha is anything like Humanimal Mole it should be fatal to anyone but invertebrates for a Tetrapod like it should be like a bee sting...From an enormous bee..." Ichabod quickly whipped out his first aid kit and got out an ice pack. Don took the ice pace from his hand and applied it to his wound._

" _I can tend my own wounds thank you very much." He said as he furiously rubbed the ice on his purpling butt cheek._

 _As the sun lamp heart began to slowly dim signaling it was evening, from the distant side of the forest a flock of Anthropomorphic Barn Swallows came forth and began singing as they did acrobatics in flight, they sang without words but it was more than common bird song. Ichabod listed them as one more Bird Species, and hoped there would be more to find, but deep down he was starting to feel he had already counted all the species in this forest which wasn't very much, mostly species from North America and Africa, a handful from Asia and South America and he could find absolutely none of the unique creatures from Australia, no Kangaroos, no Koalas, no Wombats, no Frilled Lizards not one thing from Down Under he could find._

 _It had been agreed upon by the Traveling Heroes that it probably would be wise not to take anything meat related out of their packs to eat such a thing could result in all these strange resurrected animals turning hostile, they could clearly see throughout the day carnivores like Lions, Leopards and Wolves eating the same fruit and vegetables as everyone else so it seemed everyone hear had become a vegetarian._

 _Don at this point found ice wasn't enough to sooth the pain on his bitten butt, what's more it was starting to swell, Don took a handful of some soft looking clay and slathered it on his butt cheek, Mikey snickered as he approached._

" _It's always funny when it happens to someone else huh Mikey?" Don said as his brother sat down._

" _It's kind of hard not to laugh." Mikey said "I know this whole week's been hard for you Donny."_

 _Mikey reached into his backpack, they had been enhanced by First Earth technology so food wouldn't spoil or melt in them, even in this sweltering humidity, Mikey found all his candy bars were in perfect condition._

 _As he began to open a 5th Avenue Candy Bar, he saw a now familiar nose poke through the shrubbery sniffing_

 _"What is that strange food you have in your hand?" Eartha asked her entire face poking through._

 _Normally Mikey wasn't one to share his snacks but he knew the delicate situation they were all in, and saw this as a golden opportunity. "It's a 5th Avenue Candy Bar." He said "Want to try it?"_

 _"Mikey!" Don exclaimed "We don't know how..." But before he could finish Eartha grabbed the tip of the candy bar in her sharp teeth, pulled it out its wrapper and Mikey's hand, and quickly devoured it._

 _Don knew that several species of Humanimal can't eat chocolate, mostly non-mammals and non-herbivores and thus he didn't know what effect chocolate would have on these creatures._

 _But it seems the only effect it had on Eartha was pure pleasure, as it was the sweetest thing she had ever eaten, sweeter than Eternity Fruits possibly sweeter than Bee's Honey...She was thirsty though so she went down to the lake and drank a lot of water before coming back._

" _That was amazing!" She sighed as she flopped down at the two Turtles' feet._

" _Your welcome." Mikey said "You want another one?"_

 _"Not right now..." Eartha sighed "...I don't want any of the others to see me eating human food."_

 _Mikey and Don looked at each other._

" _Eartha..." Don said, she looked at him "...Why did you and Ringo grab those two Humans last night?"_

 _"Great Mother said that when the strangers come, grab the first two Humans you can and cling to them." Eartha said_

 _Don and Mikey looked at each other again "I...See..." Don said "Why do you and Ringo listen to Great Mother?"_

 _Eartha suddenly rose and looked at the two of them._

" _I'll tell you a secret." She said "A secret I've only told the Ring Neck Snake about but..."_

 _Eartha sat down between Mikey and Don and spoke very quietly_

" _After I died as an ordinary mole..." She said for a while, everything was black, but then I opened my eyes again, I could see much more than I ever had before, before I could only really tell the difference between light and dark, but now, I could see I was with all the other dead animals...We were...Forming a spiral like heading up and up...We were all waiting for something...What we were waiting for we didn't know only that we were waiting...But for the first time I could truly see...And all around me I saw beautiful things...I saw inky blackness dotted with shining silvery lights...I looked below and I saw...The World from far away, but I wouldn't realize that until Great Father pulled me back down and coming down I would see how it was the world but I saw the blue of the waters, the green and brown of the land and the shimmering white of the clouds! I tried to tell the other moles about it but they pushed me away and wouldn't hear anything of it...When I was back in my skeleton as Great Father was bringing me back to life...I missed all that beauty and wanted to be back where I was...That was when I heard Great Mother speaking to me she said I could get back there...If I did exactly as she said."_

 _Don was amazed by what he heard, he slowly put his arm around Eartha and said "If what you want to to see the stars..." He said "...Than I will help you get your wish..."_

 _End Flashback_

The Harkaskeerah was brought to a screeching halt by hearing Marzipan's Feline Voice yowling "OH MY GOD! ICHY!"

When everyone came over, they saw Ichabod, being lifted up by the Willow Tree's vines, a strange plant was also growing out of his belly button, Ichabod's skin had turned green and his red hair was glowing in the darkness, the expression on his face seemed to be one of a strange orgasmic bliss!

 _ **If you're wondering about the flashback...I did something really stupid...Rereading The Revenants of Dark Earth I realized I submitted a chapter that was half finished that I saved after I uploaded, being the Technology Dinosaur I am I deleted the chapter instead of replacing it with the complete chapter and I realized I couldn't upload the complete chapter in the regular place after that so...Now Revenants is 57 Chapters instead of the usual 58 and I'm placing the lost chapter here to make up for that blunder**_


	18. The Green Boy

_**I realized I really need to get really think out this plot as I knew how the characters get into this mess, had a vague idea how how it ends, but wasn't thinking about how I connect point A to point B and while I knew certain revelations would take place, I wasn't thinking about how those things would be revealed to the characters, only just recently I thought to connect Ichabod's communing with the plants of New Eden to the Revelation of Apollo's Original Plan for the Revenants after they would defeat Humanity.**_

Marzipan reached for Ichabod's leg and pulled him down from the tree, snapping him out of his reverie. His skin was still green, his red hair was still glowing and he still had a strange plant growing from his bellybutton.

"Ichy!" Marzipan exclaimed "Are you all right? Are you hurt?"

Ichabod shook his head a few times "Yeah, I'm fine Marzi...In fact I'm feeling great." He turned his head down to the plant in his navel, while he had placed a grain of wheat in there, the plant looked nothing like a wheat plant, it was simply a mass of green vines sprouting from the single stem in his navel, it was through these vines the willow was able to communicate with him, Ichabod felt the tiny stem with his thumb and forefinger and tugged the plant from his bellybutton and set it aside Marzipan took a small mirror out of her pocket.

"Does anything seem unusual here?" Marzipan asked holding the mirror to Ichabod's face, Ichabod gasped when he finally realized what had just happened to his body.

"Oh geez!" Ichabod said taking the mirror in his hand and started grasping at his glowing red hair "What have I done? What have I done?"

"I don't know Ichy." Marzipan mewed "Why did you do that in the first place?"

Ichabod took a deep breath "I just had this...This feeling...That I could communicate with the plants of New Eden...And I did! I asked the Willow Tree my questions and...I learned quite a few things."

"Like what?" Don asked

"Like what Apollo's plan is for the Revenants." Ichabod said "It's not good."

"What do you mean not good?" Eartha asked

"The willow tree told me..." Ichabod said "...That after Humanity is defeated, Apollo plans to make sure no Animal will ever be able to do what Humans did...Because Humans became the smartest of all Animals, Apollo plans on removing all smarts."

Don scowled "What the shell does that mean?" He asked darkly

"He plans to essentially lobotomize Non-Human Animals." Ichabod said "Destroy their minds...Leaving them with only the bare minimum of brain function...He plans to make them all 'One Animal' essentially creating a hive mind. Every Animal shall act in unison as Apollo will puppeteer every one of them at once all shall sleep, awaken, eat and mate at the same time, all one great mass of animal life...Apollo clearly can't split is mental control so different animals do different things...So the climbers won't climb, the diggers won't dig, the fliers won't fly...Everyone will all be in one spot on the ground forever doing the same thing...Because Apollo can't trust them to not become what the Humans became."

Jonathan, Edward Nygma and Donatello were fuming, each Braniac had his fists tightly curled up into balls at his side.

"That fiend!" Edward Nygma hissed

"Indeed." Jonathan said "I thought I was nihilist at my worst...But...I still could find beauty in art and literature...But this...How much can he hate the ugly side of civilization, that he would destroy his own children so they would never be able to indulge in that ugliness? Clearly he doesn't love them enough to trust them not to become as bad if left to their own devices."

Eartha heard all this, and with terror in her heart, she ran into the woods, Don saw this and knew he had to follow her.

"Wow." Marzi said kneeling down to Ichabod "You learned all that, from a tree?"

Ichabod nodded "But I didn't know this would happen to me." He sighed

"Oh geez..." Marzipan purred, she leaned in to kiss him, but as Ichabod licked his lips in anticipation, he recognized the flavor oozing on his lips…

"Marzipan! Stop!" He pulled away "Don't kiss me! Something is on my lips...I tasted Deadly Nightshade on my lips!"

 _ **And this brings him closer to some of Poison Ivy's depictions in the comics where she is much more plant like and her kiss was toxic without poisonous lipstick**_


	19. The Mole and The Turtle

_**One thing I got to remind myself to do is to periodically check on what the villains are doing in my story, I got to remember that as these Villains are more important to this arc than the Villains of the Mutant Riots Arc were here we get to see a bit more of Doctor Rat's thought process, Doctor Rat idolizes Humanity, or it seems he idolizes the IDEA of Humanity as he clearly doesn't give a rat's tail about individual Humans eventually this begins to come into conflict with his nihilism, that if nothing is perfect what's the point to any of it existing?**_

Trotter found Doctor Rat in his Hall of the Olympian Pantheon, here he had twelve marble statues of the 12 Olympians of the Ancient Greek Pantheon each statue was flanked by perfectly white marble columns and behind them the walls were simply that of the blue sky with white clouds, to simulate a feeling of 'heavenliness' __Trotter found Doctor Rat with the statue of Athena, Goddess of Wisdom he was clutching her...Marble mammary glands…

"Mmmm…." The Cyborg Rodent purred "...Your cold stone body...So pure...So heavenly white...You suffer none of the defects of flesh and blood females, never needing to consume food or expel waste..."

Here Trotter could only roll his eyes, this was clearly the Doctor getting into one of his...'Philosophical Moods.'

"Stone lasts so much longer than flesh..." Doctor Rat said as he slid one hand down Athena's waist "Where living flesh decays, you last for centuries and millennia still as beautiful as the day you were first chiseled.

"But it still doesn't last forever." Said Trotter "Eventually stone erodes...And in the end all the planet is subject to the sun expanding, even before the super nova the Sun will swallow the Earth as it becomes a red giant."

Rather than getting irritable, Doctor Rat calmly nodded his head "You are indeed right Trotter," He said "Nothing is permanent therefore nothing is perfect."

"Still think there is something that IS perfect?" Asked Trotter

"There is no such thing." Doctor Rat sighed "The Multiverse is a disgustingly flawed thing, filled with disgusting creatures inhabiting every dimension." He looked and the statues of the Greek Deities "Humans have long dreamed of Gods, beings who are eternal and without flaw...Despite our searching we have found no evidence any God exists."

'You stupid idiot...' Trotter thought to himself '...You don't find Gods with science, you find them with magic!'

"So the best thing to do would be to destroy the multiverse and reduce it all back to beautiful pure nothingness?" Trotter said as he approached Doctor Rat

"That would be the ideal solution, yes." Doctor Rat nodded

"But...How do you know Existence won't happen again?" Trotter asked his voice unusually quiet, Doctor Rat became sullen and still "That's the thing..." Said Trotter "...You don't know...Science still can't find out how existence came to be in the first place, and until you know how all this came to be, how do you even have a chance of destroying it?"

Before Doctor Rat could respond, a Television Monitor on the wall came on, the head of one of the Humans who worked guarding the various creatures captured from other dimensions.

"We were moving some of the slaves out to the Lava Harvesting Site when we noticed some weird Prowler up on the City Wall! He was dressed like some Opera Villain, black with red boots, cape and mask..."

"Does sound a bit too fancy to be the usual street thug." Doctor Rat nodded "Was the Prowler taken care of?"

"Someone managed to shoot him in the ass." Said the Guard "He disappeared quickly after that."

Meanwhile in the deep dark woods of New Eden, Donatello found Eartha sitting on a fallen log crying.

"Eartha..." Don said softly as he approached her

"He said...He loved us..." Eartha wept her giant pink hands covering her eyes "...He said we were beautiful, more beautiful than Humans..."

Don sat down beside Eartha. He could tell, she was scared

"Is this what he meant from the very beginning?!" Eartha hissed "Before we all died, he said we would become One Animal, that we would have our minds destroyed and all eat, sleep and mate as one giant...Mass of life?!"

"Eartha..." Don said softly like a parent trying to soothe a frightened child.

Eartha buried her face into his plastroned chest "I'm scared Donatello!" She squeaked "I'm scared of Great Father!"

"Eartha..." Don stroked her velvety Mole fur "Eartha...You and Ringo...Are the ones destined to stop him."

Eartha lifted her head from his chest

"That is what Artemis tasked us to..." Don said "...You and Ringo are the Chosen Ones, all because you two weren't content with what Apollo was selling, both of you wanted more, that was why Artemis was able to contact you, she sensed your wishes...And she tasked us with protecting you two to make sure you fulfill that destiny."

"But how?" Eartha asked "How do we do that?"

Don smiled "You'll soon figure it out...Believe me...I was a Chosen One along with my brothers so we got a sense of how this Chosen One thing works."

"You've been so good to us..." Eartha sighed "...I feel bad...Knowing what you suffered through before you met us..."

"Eartha..." Don said "...I want you to know, how much both you and Ringo have helped me through that...Really...This whole adventure was just what I needed after nearly dying...You...You inspire me Eartha."

"I do?" Eartha asked

"You and I are very much alike." Don said with a smile "Ever since you first told me about your dream to see the stars...I've wanted more than anything to help you fulfill that dream...We know a Human...Her name is April, she's like an Older Sister to us...But you're like a Younger Sister...Someone I can teach and protect."

Don't worry about Edward Green, he's not dead


	20. The Cosmic Dragon Apollo

_**I briefly thought about adding subtitles when Eartha is talking in 'Animal Speak' but decided no, I'm gonna leave her speech untranslated and what she said will be paraphrased later in the story.**_

When Ringo felt the rising sun warming his scales, he looked around and saw Morgan was still sleeping beside him, he still couldn't believe they had slept next to each other the entire night (They hadn't had sex, oh no they both knew that was far away) But after talking about their histories they both witnessed Ichabod's transformation into a Green-Skinned Glowing Haired Human and when he revealed what Apollo's plan for the Revenants was...Ringo was as horrified as Eartha but he was better at keeping a lid on it, Morgan decided to sleep by his side.

Ringo smiled he leaned down, his forked tongue slowly rolling out of his mouth and he very softly flickered the tips of his forked tongue against her cheek...A Serpentine Kiss.

Ringo slithered out of the woods and found Eartha walking toward a hill with giant flowers every color of the rainbow on it.

"Eartha..." Ringo yawned sleepily as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes

"Shh." Eartha put a giant clawed finger to her muzzle

Ringo cocked his head confused

"Follow me." Eartha said "To the top of that hill."

Meanwhile others found themselves waking up, prompted by violent dreams...Jonathan, Edward Nygma, Ichabod and Donatello all found themselves waking after dreams about blood and fire.

The exited the mouth of the Dragon Cave and saw Eartha and Ringo climbing the hill.

Ringo was still sleepy, having not basked in the sun a significant amount he yawned. Eartha however was waiting for something...She dreamed Apollo would appear and was waiting for him.

The Four Nerdy Men Three Humans and One Mutant Turtle felt a sense of dread and Don motioned for them to follow the Two Revenants up the hill.

And that was the moment Apollo decided to make his grand appearance.

This wasn't his body, his physical form appearing, no this was merely his Astral Projection, but such is a Cosmic Dragon that their very soul creates fear and awe...Out of the clouds he appeared, like a gigantic dragon shaped rainbow! Causing the Four nerds to immediately fall onto their butts, and his terrible roar caused every other living thing in New Eden to instantly wake up.

Eartha and Ringo still stood however even as Apollo's massive soul seemed to stretch large enough that it seemed he covered the entire sky!

Apollo's enormous face finally turned to Eartha and Ringo.

Eartha spoke "Great Father..." She said

Apollo roared to cut her off, causing everyone else to tremble, but Eartha and Ringo knew what he was saying, he was insisting that Eartha speak to him in proper 'Animal Language'

Eartha proceeded to switch to Mole-Like speaking and hissing. As she did so the Four Nerds nodded to each other and continued to climb the hill though this time they crawled on hands and knees, as if Apollo wouldn't notice them.

Eartha spoke to Apollo and the more she spoke the more beads of sweat trickled down her face and neck as Apollo stayed motionless and expressionless the more furiously she squeaked at him.

Finally she raised her voice as loud as she could at him. Apollo narrowed his eyes everyone froze.

Finally Apollo gave a gruff grunt and two of the large flowers Eartha and Ringo were standing on...Became ejector seats the Four Nerds also found the flowers underneath became ejector seats and they all tumbled into a massive but soft pile of cherry blossoms.

"What...On Earth...Just happened?!" Nygma asked

Eartha shook her head for a few moments and then said "He said...'You've passed the test'

"Huh?" Donatello and Jonathan turned their head to the Mole Revenants

"I said to Great Father..." Eartha said "All the Reasons he shouldn't destroy our minds...I said to him that the Carnivores would starve because the Fruits and Vegetables aren't as nutritious outside his belly, and how little he believes in us if he has to destroy out minds to prevent us from becoming just like the Humans...And all he said was...You've Passed the Test."

The Four Nerds looked at each other, and then Jonathan gave a great laugh and clapped Eartha on the back

"My Dear!" He exclaimed "You did it!"

"What did I do?" Eartha asked

"You convinced Apollo there's another way..." Don said "...I think...This means Apollo really does care about you Revenants...You proved to him the potential you have."

Just then Minsk came up "Does anyone know where Edward is? I've been waiting and waiting and he still hasn't come back!"

 _ **Once again Edward Green isn't dead but it's kind of hard to walk when you've been shot in the ass.**_


	21. Tales from Dardunah: Part 1

_**First off I want to give full credit to Endoria of the Dardunah Forum for these stories are her creation also from the Dardunah forum Griffin wanted me to give you viewers information about how you can find out more about Shard**_ Shard Studios P.O. Box 170144 Austin TX. 78717

What did Si'Ni think about what had just happened? Firstly she had been sleeping soundly in the Dragon Cave (Not only did it provide a roof over her head so she didn't have to see the stars, but the warmth of the hot springs inside made it a much cozier place to sleep) When the great rumbling roar of Apollo awakened everyone, when Si'Ni opened her eyes and looked outside the cave at first she thought the monotonously blue sky of Earth had transformed into the more colorful sky Dardunah, sure the base color is amber, but the clouds of multicolored dust in the air render Dardunah's sky a complex ever shifting mass of colors! But when Si'Ni realized that it was actually a 'someone' not a 'something' the one the Natives referred to as their 'Great Father' she heard the Earthlings call him a Dragon...(And she knew what Komodo Dragons were she saw them in Hanalu where there are many Sarpah) but this was was something unlike any creature in Dardunah! His features seemed to indicate Sarpah but he was unlike any Sarpah in Dardunah...He had his wings sprouting from his back instead of his arms! And while she couldn't comprehend anything he and Eartha said to each other, she got the feeling something very important was happening between the two of them.

After Eartha, Ringo and a few other got tossed by the Flowers into a massive pile of soft pink blossoms, Si'Ni rushed over along with several others.

The sky was once again a monotonous blue with white clouds...Si'Ni thought about what had just happened...And while it was terrifying...It was also thrilling! She felt an excitement she had never felt before...That limitless potential lay before her….All she had to do was grasp it!

After breakfast Si'Ni said to her Companions "You all have been so kind to me...I can't thank you enough..."

"It all right." Raph said

"But really!" Si'Ni said "I should be doing more!"

Everyone stood silently for a while, then the Hyena Cub, Julia came forward

"Could you tell us a story?" Julia asked "You said you wished you could be a storyteller...How about you tell us a story!"

Si'Ni felt her eyes get a bit misty...This Cub asking her to tell a story, she quickly wiped her eyes "What kind of story do you want me to tell?"

"We want to hear a story from where you're from!" The Chimpanzee Cub Caesar said jumping up onto a rock to seat himself "Your world must have it's own fairy tales! Tell us your favorite story from when you were a Piglet!"

Si'Ni blinked a few times "I could tell you a few of my favorite stories yes, but what is a 'Fair-Ree' Tale?"

That was something no one was expecting

"Have you never heard of a Fairy?" Marzipan asked

Si'Ni shook her head

Julia quickly said "They're pretty humans with butterfly wings!"

"Julia!" Ichabod said "They look like Humans but Fairies are something different entirely..."

Ichabod turned to Si'Ni "Fairies are a kind of creature that interacted with Humanity many years ago and has only recently rekindled interactions with us...The best way to describe fairy tales is they are a kind of folk tale that often revolves around fairies and their interactions with humans."

"Ah." Si'Ni said "Folk tales I know plenty of...But...Simply talking about my favorite stories from when I was a child...I do have two that stand out in particular...Both are tales from Tishnia which is separate from my home country of Nilam this first one is the story of Tiari the City of Blue Roofs."

Everyone sat themselves down...They had no idea what this story would be like, but they were eager to here a tale from this 'Dardunah' and hoped to find similarities between this tale and other tales they knew.

The story was that many lifetimes ago in the city of Tiari, there lived the beautiful Zesri, daughter of the magistrate who lived in that city. She was a slender and elegant vixen and well-known to the people, she often went among them, some whispered she was a reincarnation of Krilarah herself, returned from the edge of Heaven to dry her children's tears.

At that time Tiari suffered greatly from the depredations of the Corsairs who raided the city almost daily in their airships killing many in their lust for riches. Their leader was an ugly brute the Rhinoceros Harisalábik (At this point Si'Ni looked at the Rhinoceros Hank, and saw his smile immediately dropped, Si'Ni immediately stopped the story to say "Of course we know both good and fell deeds can exist in the hearts of any Janah...We know not all Rhinos are evil, or ugly for that matter...One Rhino approached me in the market one time asking for me to show him around town...Then I turned around he saw I wore a trade caste braid, and immediately apologized for the trouble as he was a Sunborn." Hank didn't smile again, but he seemed to relax knowing that Si'Ni didn't think him ugly or evil for being a Rhinoceros)

Continuing her story Si'Ni said the Leader was known by many as the dreaded Bloodhorn as he dyed his horn an evil red

One day Bloodhorn spied Zesri in the streets and his icy heart took flame and gave chase but the Devah guided her steps and she escaped his grasp. He took several prisoners that day and he asked them all the same question 'Who is the lovely fox maiden with the emerald eyes?' they all answered the same 'She is Zesri, daughter of the magistrate.' For the first time in his bloodthirsty career Bloodhorn set his prisoners free…

Si'Ni looked around and saw everyone was utterly enraptured by her story!

 _ **I think I'm gonna divide this into at least two parts**_


	22. Tales From Dardunah Part 2

_**Once again credit to Endoria from the Dardunah Forum for the stories**_

Si'Ni took a moment to take a deep drink from a bottle of water as as this storytelling was thirsty work, then she noticed some were missing.

"Where is...Eleanor?"Si'Ni asked

"She went with Rana and Charlie into the desert to look for Edward Green." Leonardo said

Si'Ni continued her story

The next day, Bloodhorn's airship dropped anchor at the Magistrate's palace. He demanded an audience with the Magistrate, who nervously complied. Bluntly, the brutish rhino asked him to hand over Zésri, whom he would make his concubine. The Magistrate, shocked beyond fear, immediately refused. Bloodhorn paced up and down, and in a low, threatening voice, described to the Magistrate how the streets of Tiari would run with blood if Zésri was not given to him. The Magistrate, pale but resolute, continued to refuse. But Zésri, who had been listening from behind a tapestry, stepped into the room.

"If I come to you, will you leave this city in peace?" she asked. Bloodhorn, momentarily struck dumb by her beauty, simply nodded. "Then I will go with you," she answered. "But you must give me three days to prepare. I must say farewell to my family and make offerings at the temple." Bloodhorn, finally able to speak, answered gruffly, "I agree. I will return in three days time." Zésri answered him, saying, "Do not come here, it will only distress my father further," and indeed her father was weeping, his face in his hands. "Come to my sister's house. It is in such-and-such a district, and it has a blue roof that can easily be seen from the sky." Bloodhorn bowed, saying "This I will do."

Bloodhorn returned to his airship, and his fleet withdrew from the city completely, leaving the inhabitants at peace for the first time in many months. Word of Zésri's bravery and sacrifice spread like wildfire, and the people whispered together in the marketplace. Zésri herself seemed unaffected, as she calmly made preparations for her departure. She said her farewells to her family, and visited the temple of Krilárah on the evening of the second day, praying that the Devah would watch over her people. That night the city was in an uproar. Strange noises were heard, and lights were seen in every quarter. But Zésri slept soundly, unafraid for herself, and content to know that her people would be safe.

As the third day dawned, Bloodhorn's fleet of airships returned to Tiari. Bloodhorn stood on the deck of his ship, surveying the city at first with surprise and then with growing anger. Overnight, every roof in every district had been painted blue. Unable to find Zésri, he landed again at the Magistrate's palace, its roof alone a gleaming white. He charged into the Magistrate's audience chamber, roaring that he had been tricked, and vowing to exact a terrible vengeance on all of Tiari. The Magistrate quailed before him, pleading for mercy for his people, but Bloodhorn was not to be appeased. He struck the Magistrate once across the face, and returned to his airship, shouting orders to his crew as he went.

As the corsairs prepared to rain destruction on the city, they heard a strange noise. Looking up, the terrified crews saw a huge Vürtach, easily ten times the size of their largest ship, bearing down on the fleet. Its huge mandibles closed on the first ship, tearing it in two as easily as if it were tearing paper, sending its crew to their deaths far below. The other airships tried to flee, but one by one the shrieking creature seized and destroyed them, until the sky was filled with falling bits of debris. Lastly it came to Bloodhorn's ship, where Bloodhorn himself, armed with a sabre, stood his ground, slashing at the thing as it came. The Vürtach grasped him in its mandibles, and flew upwards with him for several hundred feet before dropping him. His wild curses ended abruptly as his body hit the roof of the Magistrate's palace. Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the Vürtach was gone.

The people of the city, who had cowered in fear during the attack, came out into the streets, celebrating the destruction of their enemies. Zésri herself, wide-eyed and astonished, looked out on the City of Blue Roofs, and gave thanks to Krilárah for her salvation.

And some say that the Vürtach was a wild beast, driven from its usual haunts by hunger. Others say that it was sent by Krilárah herself, to keep her most devout worshiper from harm. And still others say that it was called by Laksha, the Magistrate's ancient sir'hibas summoner, who was found dead in her rooms later that day. But all agreed that Bloodhorn had gotten no more and no less than he deserved.

In later years Zésri went on to rule Tiari with a wise and gentle hand. And from that time forward, citizens of Tiari paint their roofs blue in memory of Zésri and the city's deliverance from Bloodhorn and his Corsairs.

At the end of the story Si'Ni's ears perked to hear the sounds of applause from the Earthlings.

The only question anyone had was 'What's a Vurtach?'

Si'Ni figured the best thing to explain one of the Native Creatures of Dardunah to the Earthlings was to draw a picture of it. Given a piece of paper and a pen by Ichabod she did her best to best illustrate what a Vurtach was

"These Suthra are perhaps the mightiest creatures in all Dardunah!" She said holding up the drawing for everyone to see. "I drew an airship next to it so you can get a sense of how massive this creature is!"

Raphael in particular came up, took the drawing in his own hands and said "I giant frickin' flyin' centipede that can eat entire boats…"

Raphael visibly and audibly shuddered as he handed the drawing back to Si'Ni. "I think I need a dip in the hot spring..." He walked off

Don came up to Si'Ni and said quietly to her "Raph has a fear of insects...He doesn't like anything with an exoskeleton."

"Hmmm." Si'Ni said "He would not like Dardunah, for all the Suthra or...Creatures that are not Janah, with the few exceptions that are fish are covered in Chitin instead of flesh..."

Si'Ni turned to her audience "That reminds me...My most favorite childhood story of all features a Suthra...More specifically a Janah becomes a Suthra...The Boy Who Was Changed into a Kellendu..."

 _ **Yeah...Finally decided to simply copy and paste rather than laboriously type out the entire story**_


	23. The Boy Who Became a Kellendu

_**Once again credit to Endoria of the Dardunah Forum for this story I only made one tiny edit where Endoria's story has the Hero restored to 'Human' Form (Which I assume to be a 'translation convention' ) I replace with 'Janah' Form**_

Edward was crawling on his belly on rough desert rock...His rear end throbbed...He needed help fast...He tried to lift himself and then fell flat onto his belly again.

If he didn't get back to New Eden soon he was done for…

But suddenly...He heard the sound of footsteps, he brushed aside his ebony bangs and saw Eleanor and that Frog Mutant and Gray Squirrel Mutant running toward him.

"Oh..." He sighed "Thank you my friends for coming for me..."

Eleanor immediately sniffed and quickly realized the blood scent was coming from his rear end

"How badly are you hurt?" Eleanor asked

Edward winced "Shot in the right cheek...The one without the beauty mark..."

"Eww." Charlie said "Keep those things to yourself. We don't need to know where all your warts and moles are."

Feeling his face, Eleanor said "The grater danger to your life that you're dehydrated we need to get you some water fast!"

"Indeed." Rana said "Let's head back before my beautiful skin starts cracking!"

"You're not that delicate." Eleanor said as she got down on all fours "I know you can withstand a little bit of dry heat before you start drying out..." She got Edward onto her back and together the three Mutants resumed bounding across the desert back to New Eden only this time Eleanor was bounding on all fours like a normal Sheep.

Edward was amazed "You're capable of moving quadrupedal as well as bipedal! Amazing! I thought only Humanimals could do that!"

"I'm a fairly unique Mutant." Eleanor chuckled "Being able to move on all fours helped when I needed to disguise myself as a normal Sheep."

"Is that why you're naked?" Edward asked (Blushing as he clung to her bare back)|

"I'm naked because it's too darn hot to travel the desert in my heavy armor." Eleanor said "Plus it would have been more difficult for you to ride."

After a brief snack (Of something the Earthlings' called 'Sugar Cookies' provided by the enchanted chest called the 'Cooler') Si'Ni was ready to tell her favorite childhood story.

Once upon a time there were seven brothers: the six eldest were married, but the youngest was only a youth and looked after the dudha. The six married brothers spent their life in hunting and used often to be away from home for one or two months at a time. Now all their six wives were evil sir'hibasi and directly their husbands left home the six women used to climb a maspéra tree and ride away on it, to eat jánah or do some other devilry.

"Question." Marzipan said raising her pink and purple hand "What species is the protagonist?"

"Species?" Si'Ni blinked a few times before remembering that 'Species' seemed to be the Earthling word for 'Jenu' or 'Form'

"Something you should know about us Janah..." Si'Ni said "...Is that in our religion...It is stated that our physical bodies our 'Jenu' are so varied because this is how Great Mother and Father hid us from the Devouer...By conceiling their children in many varied forms...As such it is not always thought of as important to mention the Jenu either of oneself or others if it is not necessary...Some historical figures are known only by their words as their Jenu seems to have been forgotten."

Marzipan frowned "To us Humanimals..." She replied "...In addition to not helping us get a visual picture but...If the Protagonist is something that can fly it could radically change the story..."

Si'Ni realized she never thought about that...Indeed she did always imagine the Hero of this story as a Vajrah like herself (And not a Klin either) The Sow took a moment to think if the Hero did have wings, would he have needed to hide in the hollow of the tree? Of course one could say that the enchanted tree moved to fast and too far for a Flying Janah to follow on wing so even if he could fly he could only follow by hiding in the tree

"I think..." Si'Ni said "...That for Humaniamals and Mutants Jenu is more important...You know where you come from, that you were originally Suthra...Where to us that knowledge was forgotten….Or buried...Many of these stories were written for the characters to be whatever Janah the reader wanted them to be...So...Marzipan...What do you think the Hero is?"

Marzipan thought for a moment "Well...Since your last story had a fox for the Protagonist the first thing that came into my head was a Fox."

"Do you imagine all his brother and his wives are Foxes as well?" Si'Ni asked "In Dardunah all members of the three great races, the Furred Vajrah, the Feathered Paksin, and the Scaled Sarpah can interbreed freely within their kinds...There is a way that Janah can breed outside their Jenu type but it is very rare and fraught with peril! The marriage of a Black Mamba like Morgan and the Ring-Neck Snake like Ringo would be perfectly normal on Dardunah and the resulting children would either be their Mother's Jenu or their Father's Jenu or more rarely a different Jenu from either parent's family tree. So Marzipan...It is completely possible that the Brothers are different 'species' of Vajrah."

The youngest brother saw them disappear every day and made up his mind to find out what they did. So one morning he hid in a hollow in the trunk of the maspéra tree and waited till his sisters-in-law came and climbed up into the branches: then the tree rose up and was carried through the air to the banks of a large river, where the women climbed down and disappeared.

After a time they came back and climbed into the tree and rode on it back to the place where it came from. But as they descended they saw their brother-in-law hiding in the trunk and at first they tried to make him promise not to tell what he had seen, but he swore that he would let his brothers know all about it: so then they thought of killing him, but in the end the eldest said that this was not necessary and she fetched two crystal nails and drove them into the soles of his feet whereupon he at once became a kelléndu. He could understand all that was said but of course could not speak. He followed them home and they treated him well and always gave him a regular helping at meals as if he were a jánah and did not merely throw him the scraps as if he were a kelléndu: nor would he have eaten them if they had.

A month afterwards the other brothers came home and asked if all had gone well in their absence. Their wives said that all was well except that the youngest brother had unfortunately disappeared without leaving any trace. While they were talking the kelléndu came up and fawned on the brothers, so they asked where it had come from and the women said that it had followed them home on the day that they were looking for the missing boy: and they had kept it ever since. So the matter rested: the brothers searched high and low but could not find the missing boy and so gave up the quest.

Now the Isvar of that country had three daughters whom he had tried in vain to get married: whenever a bridegroom was proposed to them they declared that he was not to their liking and they would have nothing to do with him. At last their father said that as they would not let him choose husbands for them, they must make the choice themselves: he proposed to assemble all the men in his kingdom on a certain day and there and then they must take to themselves husbands.

So proclamation was made that all the male jánah were to assemble outside the palace and that three of them would receive the Isvar's daughters in marriage without having to pay any bride price. On the fixed day a great crowd collected and among others went the six brothers: and the kelléndu followed them. Then the three princesses were brought out and three flies were caught: round one fly was tied a piece of white thread for the eldest princess and round the second fly a red thread for the second princess: and round the last fly a blue thread for the youngest princess. Then the three princesses solemnly promised that each would marry the man on whom the fly marked with her color settled, and the flies were let loose. The red fly and the blue fly soon settled on two of the men sitting in the crowd but the white fly flew high in the air and circled round and at last settled on the kelléndu which was sitting beside the six brothers.

At this the crowd laughed and jeered but the eldest princess said that she must accept what fate had decreed and that she would marry the kelléndu. So the betrothal ceremony of the three princesses took place at once, soon followed by their weddings. The husbands of the two youngest princesses took their brides home, but the eldest princess stayed in her father's house with her kelléndu.

One day after its dinner the kelléndu was lying on its side asleep and the princess chanced to see the heads of the crystal nails in its feet: "Ah," thought she, "that is why the poor kelléndu limps." So she ran and fetched a pair of pincers and pulled out the nails: no sooner had she done so than the kelléndu was restored to its Janah shape and the princess was delighted to find that not only was he a jánah but also very handsome: and they settled down to live happily together.

Some months later the six brothers resolved to go and visit the Isvar, so that the princess might not feel that the kelléndu she had married had no friends in the world. Off they set and when they reached the Isvar's palace they were amazed to find their younger brother and still more so when they heard the story of all that had happened to him.

They immediately decided to take vengeance on their wives and when they reached home gave orders for a large well to be dug: when it was ready they told their wives to join in the consecration ceremony which was to ensure a pure and plentiful supply of water: so the six sir'hibasi went to the well and while their attention was occupied, their husbands pushed them all into the well and filled it up with earth and that was the end of the evil women.

 _ **If you want to learn more about Shard**_

Shard Studios P.O. Box 170144 Austin TX. 78717


	24. What is Love Really?

_**So...Just watched Steven Universe Battle of Heart and Mind and...Wow...I've still got jitters even as I write this it was so good...I was planning to write the Final Chapter of The Humanimals of Mizzer on my Fictionpress but right now I need to focus on something a little bit...More close to my heart. In the beginning is a Watership Down reference**_

A few hours after Si'Ni finished her Third Story, Eleanor, Rana and Charlie arrived, Riddler was quite amazed to see Eleanor could run on four legs as effectively as she did on two.

"Edward is injured." Eleanor said "He needs medical attention."

Don fidgeted "Unfortunately Kong is...Occupied...Ichabod's botanical transformation has taken some strange and potentially dangerous turns..."

"He started farting mushroom spores." Mikey

"Mikey!" Don hissed but then he turned to Elenaor"I do know a good bit of first aid maybe I can help."

"He's been shot in his read end..." Eleanor said as she lay Edward down on his belly

"Did you get the black stones out?" Ringo asked

Eleanor, Rana, Charlie, Don and Mikey turned and looked at the Ring-Neck Snake

"What are you talking about?" Don asked

"Great….Father..." Ringo said "...Told us things about Human Things that hurt Animals while we were in his belly...He told us that with the shot of the gun comes little black stones that those stones are what kill Animals." Ringo stuck out his forked tongue to catch a pink cherry blossom that had been slowly floating down, he pulled it into his mouth and chewed it savoring the flavors

Don blinked a few times as he processed what Ringo had just said "You mean pellets?" He said "Pellets are what you're talking about."

"To us they're black stones." Ringo said "Great Father said 'Take out black stones, you can heal."

Don sighed at least the Revenants concept of first aid was sound."

Pulling down Edward's black slacks, Ringo's tongue flickered "Ah!" He said "Buried stones."

With his pincer like claws he began extracting the pellets one by one, Edward winced but did not cry as he said "Before I was shot I found out what they're doing with the 'Janah'

"Really?" Eartha asked "What are they doing with them?"

"They're slave labor..." Edward grunted "...Taking them to place called...The lava harvesting site."

"They're taking them to a volcano!" Mikey exclaimed

"Seems that way..." Edward sighed, Eleanor placed a bottle of water under his nose

"Drink..." The Mutant Ewe cooed "...You're dehydrated."

After Ringo pulled all the pellets from Edward rear end Marzipan approached Eartha and Ringo

"Hey..." The Pink and Purple Cat-Humanimal said softly "I have a memory I think I should share with you two."

"What kind of memory?" Eartha asked

"A memory I have of me...And Ichabod...and Jonathan...I think it's better if I just show you instead of telling..."

Eartha and Ringo each gave Marzipan a hand and Marzipan clasped their hands tightly as she began her memory

 _Flashback_

 _Marzipan, Ichabod and Jonathan were all sitting on the sofa...Marzipan was sitting between them._

" _...So when I realized you didn't remember me from before..." Marzipan said "...I was...So terrified of being on my own on a strange planet...All the Humanimals who had been liberated they...They were all planning on separating once they reached Earth...We didn't become a true herd...Though in the end Rook came back...My first Humanimal Friend came back to me...But I was scared...I didn't want to be alone...Along complete strangers...When you said you loved me more than you ever loved anyone...I thought that means...I'm supposed to love you too, and marry you...Isn't that how it always is in those fairy tales?"_

 _Marzipan began to cry "But I only thought of you as a friend! I didn't love you the same way you did me! But I said I did so I could live with you become part of your herd! I figured after a while I could learn to love you..."_

 _"Well..." Ichabod said "...Didn't you?"_

 _Marzipan looked at Ichabod, he took her hand and squeezed it_

" _You do love me..." Ichabod said "...And I couldn't have asked for a better girlfriend but...Marzi...If all you wanted was to join our Herd...I'm sure I would have been fine with that to..."_

 _"I know..." Marzipan said "...That's why...When you said that you weren't expecting me to return your feelings...I thought...That when Hero says 'I love you' the Heroine is supposed to love him back..."_

 _"Oh..." Jonathan sighed "...You poor child..." He stroked her pink and purple bangs "...Marzipan...I think since you loved Ichabod as a friend...You already loved him much more deeply then Human Females who have 'crushes' based only upon a Man's appearance without knowing anything about him...I have been doing some research into what Humans call 'Romantic Love' and it has a long and complicated history...but suffice to say...I am starting to believe romantic love may not actually exist it is a phantom emotion just like there is no such actual color as magenta...But Humans confuse lust or infatuation for love...Mature love only blossoms after a couple have known each other for a long time...So the classic idea of four loves may actually only be three loves with 'romantic love' being a mere subset of friendship..."_

 _Jonathan kissed Marzipan's velvety Cat ear_

" _When Donatello said that a Great Evil was done to you Humanimals I'm not sure even he knew the scope of the evil...We Humans raised you Humanimals and thus you we are the species you imprinted on...But we Humans have had thousand of generations to adapt to this idea of romantic love which may have only truly started in the medieval period...You Humanimals have not had this change to evolve to this mirage you see our culture but don't have the biological adaptations for this ideas so you only half-comprehend this idea of love and are left a confused tortured mess when you realize you don't feel the way Human Culture tells you you should be feeling..."_

 _End Flashback_

 _ **The idea romantic love doesn't exist may be controversial but even Narnia Author C.S. Lewis referred to the movement Jonathan was referring to the 'Courtly Love' in the Medieval Age as 'The feudalization of love'**_


	25. Have You Seen This Species?

_**Okeydokey...Just had a freaky dream involving just lots a creepy violent things and Missing Children Posters where the Children looked exactly like Cabbage Patch Kids Dolls...But as I lay in bed waiting for my heartbeat to slow down I started thinking...What if there were 'Missing Species' posters...One thing I must emphasize that Apollo could only recreate a few species and so concentrated on the species he personally favored so millions upon trillions of species didn't get resurrected and anthropomorphized**_

It took Eartha several hours to finally fall asleep, seemed there always seemed to be a new itch on her body that needed attention before she could finally fall asleep.

When she finally fell asleep she had the most hideous dream!

 _Eartha felt her eyes open again...A red car zoomed by her!_

 _Eartha sat up, She was surrounded by cars! She was in the very middle of a busy intersection and she was surrounded by cars speeding by her!_

 _Then she heard an evil laugh! On a skyscraper above her, perched on the skyscraper as large as King Kong was Doctor Rat...The part of his body that was still flesh was bare and furless while his lower half and the right side of his face was mechanical!_

 _Doctor Rat laughed and he started crawling down the skyscraper toward her...Eartha gasped and jumped! She leapt from car to car to run from the Cyborg Rat._

 _She ran past skyscrapers and trash-strewn alleys, not a single tree or flower was here in this city...She could still hear Doctor Rat's laughter behind her._

 _Eartha made a sharp turn and suddenly she was in a lab surrounded by Animals that had been mutilated in various ways! That was when several posters dropped down around her and started circling around her...The posters were all of various animals...Animals who had not been resurrected by Great Father_

 _Despite the fact she had never learned to read in her life, in her dream she could read the posters_

 _Have You Seen Coereba flaveola_

 _Have You Seen Celestus occiduus_

 _Have You Seen_ _Camelus ferus_

 _Have You Seen_ _Odobenus rosmarus_

 _Have You Seen_ _Alligator mississippiensis_

 _Eartha clasped her hands over her head and jumped over the posters_

That was when she woke up. Donatello was shaking her shoulders

"Eartha! Eartha!" Don said

When Eartha opened her Gray Eyes, she was back in the Dragon Cave

"You were having a nightmare..." Don said

"Night...Mare?" Eartha cocked her head

"A bad dream." Don said

"Nightmare..." Eartha said "...Is this what I get for sleeping at night?"

She went outside the Cave, Don followed her

The Little Mole Revenant looked toward the Moon and Stars she loved so much

"Oh Moon, Oh Stars," She said reverently "I love you so much...Surely you wouldn't hurt me by sending me such dreams!"

Don caught up with her and placed said "It's OK. We all have bad dreams."

But that was when Eartha noticed Morgan standing on a hill above them...The Black Mamba Humanimal had head head upturned to the sky...Eartha noticed Morgan seemed to be staring at the moon, glaring at it with such intensity...Then Morgan turned and sped back down the hill...She seemed to be fleeing something.

Eartha and Don realized they had to follow her.

 _ **If you're looking up the species whose scientific names I posted and asking yourselves why I put such obscure species like 'Banana Quilt' and 'Galliwasp' right next to such well known species as 'Camel' 'Walrus' and Alligator' I had just looked at a children's book of Jamaican Animal Fables and those two species were mentioned in that book**_


	26. The Undead Bride

_**So for Christmas I finally got the Shard: Magic and Martial Arts RPG Book in the Third Chapter introducing the new Zoic Templates there was a brief Fiction to introduce the chapter in which I saw the most charming creature a Binturong (Also known as a 'Bearcat') Playing what appeared to be a Lute (Or whatever the Dardunah Equivalent of a Lute) So charmed was I by this character that I decided to have him totally replace a character I had been planning for sometime as the Janah who comes for Si'Ni after she leaves Dardunah to find her Earth Friends this Binturong is not named in the story he is featured in but I shall call him 'Sadaak' it is because of his prodding questions about Dardunah Society that I decided he is a better fit than the previous character I had in mind to be the Janah who follows Si'Ni to Earth.**_

The baleful lights in the strange sky that on Dardunah were believed to be the eyes of Demons were in the sky again...All the other Janah trembled but Sadaak a Binturong of the Wandering Tribes found himself sitting erect with dignity. He along with all the remaining captured Janah had been placed in strange...Boxes on wheels for lack of any other way to describe them...These were certainly no luxurious carriages Sadaak was certain they were meant to be cargo...Like Slaves, or worse...Suthra…

Sadaak had sorcery, the talents of his people were many and many other Janah would kill him if they knew he possessed the gifts of A Sir'hibas. In the darkness of the this strange box he looked at his fellow Janah, most of them were above him in terms of caste and they trembled with fright trying to hide from the 'Demon Eyes' that peeked through the gaps between the wood, but instead Sadaak turned to face those eyes.

'To other Janah I was cursed with bad luck before...' He thought '...I don't believe I can get any lower than I am right here...I shall gaze upon you without flinching...'

And the Demon Eyes simply twinkled...Through the Gaps Sadaak could also see a barren desert landscape, more barren than other deserts he could neither see nor smell any plant life.

'Do you know what it means to be alive?' He once asked this Question to a Priestess years ago, Sadaak ruminated on that question...And thought back to the Sow who managed to escape by breaking her lock with a rock...Where was she? Was she alive? Was she dead? Is it possible she found a way back to Dardunah? Because one thing was clear this place was NOT Dardunah...This land...THIS LAND...It was so strange and yet...Sadaak felt something approaching familiarity the more he saw and smelled of this place...But how could that be? The Journey Chant tells of Flight from the Devourer...But that implies that The Mother and Father came from somewhere else first...What was that place?

Meanwhile in New Eden Donatello, Eartha, Ringo and Si'Ni (Si'Ni had been sleeping next to Eartha, as for some reason she had become fond of the Mole Revenant, it was Eartha kicking in her sleep and scratching Si'Ni's back with her claws that awakened the Sow that awoke Donatello and thus alerted him to Eartha's Terrifying Dream) were following Morgan through the Forest, the Black Mamba was extremely fast only slowed by having to navigate the countless boulders and fallen logs. When at last Morgan found what she sensed was here...A Portal...It hadn't been here before it had just sprung into existence!

Morgan entered the portal, and the others followed.

They were in a different kind of forest, a forest of gnarled and twisted trees, Eartha sensed that these trees were positively ill!

But then they heard Morgan's voice like thunder "MOTHER! I AM HERE!"

A boom of thunder, a flash of lightning! The Four Creatures turned and saw the most terrifying creature! What appeared to be a Human Skeleton, in a tattered wedding dress and a few strands of gray stringy hair still on her cranium!

 _ **"So Morgan..."**_ Said the Skeleton in a voice that was somehow both booming and hollow _**"I see you brought your...Friends?"**_

"What?!" Morgan exclaimed she turned around and saw the Four Creatures behind her

" _ **You...Animals..."**_ The Skeleton sneered **_"...Your innocence is so disgusting...You mate with each other so virulently...I should never entrusted an Animal to my Sacred Task!"_**

"Bringing the Old God back?" Morgan hissed

" _ **Yes..."**_ The Skeleton hissed back **_"...The Ancient Legend foretell the Old God will be brought back if the Daughter of a Witch of the Wilds marries and then mates with a Heroic Man the Old God reenter this world, tearing his Mother, the daughter apart in the process, the Old God will then be bound to marry and serve his Grandmother...And I would have had my fun torturing the multiverse killing every man, woman and child, and all the animals and plants before destroying the Multiverse and create a monument to non-existence! But you couldn't do it could you Morgan! Even with me completely possessing you couldn't do it! And this is all that's left of me! A lich barely clinging to life!"_**

Donatello reached for his Bo Staff but Cerridwen knew what he was doing

" _ **As a Witch of the Wilds I have control over all of nature including all living things...By merely thinking..."**_

Don immediately doubled over in pain as he felt extreme stomach cramps like he had never experienced before

" _ **...I have complete control over your bodies!"**_ Said the Undead Bride **_"Why I can even cause instant menstruation!_** "

Well neither Don nor Ringo menstruated (Thanks the Gods) the three Females Si'Ni, Eartha, and even Morgan felt the blood flowing out of them for Si'Ni who had had periods before, this wasn't pleasant but...She knew about evil Sorcery so she feared even more worse things. For Eartha who had never menstruated only had estrus...This was terrifying! Why was blood coming out of her...She gave a strange unearthly shriek!

Morgan was not cowed and she thought the pain to reach her Mother, but Cerridwen created a great gust of wind to blow her back, next to Ringo.

Ringo created a flame. "Take my fire..." He said reaching out to her

Morgan took the flame and still fighting the pain inched her way to Cerridwen, she then held the flame toward her Mother, the flame started to burn brighter and whiter! Cerridwen gave a great shriek as her body started disintegrating but like Feral she completely annihilated being destroyed body and soul.

After that Morgan collapsed exhausted, But Donatello freed from his stomach pains rushed up to her.

"Morgan..." He said reaching to help her up "...You are incredibly strong to have survived being raised by that Monster..."

Once again the two touched and once again they both trembled.

 _ **Si'Ni offered to help Eartha clean up...I didn't want to get too graphic this will be important to Eartha's character development**_


	27. Recuperation in the Dark

_**So...Finally I add a chapter to Heart of Life, I've been putting off doing this for a while and this chapter is primarily gonna be about Morgan and Donatello rather than Eartha and Ringo, waiting this long did bring about a revelation realizing that Morgan's Black Mamba Dad is probably still out there somewhere I realized that Bill could remember that and recommend to Morgan she reconcile with him, I realized I had been treating Morgan's Dad as a Non-Entity.**_

After telling the rest of the group of their adventure, there was an atmosphere of awkwardness. Eartha was still terrified by her menstruation and after cleaning she had to be soothed by Ichabod as he ran his skilled fingers through her velvety fur.

Si'Ni watched and listened as Eartha described how estrus was different from menstruation and Si'Ni realized that Janah were more similar to Humans than to the original Creatures they had descended indeed it seemed that Janah were for all intents and purposes a subset of Humans despite their bestial heads and tails and pelts.

Bill was grazing nearby and watching Morgan laying side by side with Ringo, Bill thinking about Morgan finally finding love remembered something from his encounter with Morgan.

"Hey." Bill said "Morgan, whatever happened to your Dad after you left his Herd?"

Morgan raised her head "I have no idea." She said "He could still be wandering the wilderness or he might have joined civilization after Mutants gained civil rights."

"Have you ever thought of...Reconciling with him?" Bill asked "I mean...If Ichabod and his Dad can reconcile over attempted murder I'm sure your Dad would accept you since you've been freed from your Mom's grasp."

Si'Ni snorted to herself 'Attempted murder?' She thought to herself she would HAVE to hear that story. More than their strange physical forms it struck Si'Ni that most of these people would be what her society would deem Outcastes, criminals the lowest of the low and yet these Creatures had been far more kind to her than her own family...In this society that had no caste system, (At least not as she recognized it) this was a place where criminals can be welcomed back into society if they repent (She had read stories where similar things happened, tales of a Crystal Corsair who chose to spare the lives of Noble Children and thus was for his act of mercy was elevated to Sunborn status but these cases were meant to be the exception not the rule)

Meanwhile Donatello took his brothers aside to speak with them.

"All right." He said "Since you've heard the story of what happened to us...I am begging you, please, PLEASE don't be hostile to Morgan or feel you need to defend my honor anymore...Because...I realize who the one who raped me actually was...She raped me through her daughter...And her daughter killed her Cerridwen had been controlling Morgan mentally for most of her life, only after Morgan was freed was her real personality restored."

Mikey shuddered "You mean, it's like one of those movies where some dude with mind control turns people into brain puppets?!"

"Pretty sick, makin' a brain puppet out of your own kid." Raph said

Leo rubbed his forehead "After I saw what had been done to you..." Leo said "...I wanted to kill that Snake so much...But that's the thing about Humanimals...Don't try to predict anything with them, sometimes things aren't what they seem sometimes things are exactly what they seem."

Don sighed "I've got to face reality..." He said "...That the one most to blame for my situation...Is me."

His brothers stared at him

"I mean...By not being able to confide the stress I was having to anyone, not even my fiancee I left myself wide open, vulnerable to attack...If I couldn't even trust Belladonna, why am I even marrying her?!"

"Don." Leo said "There's...There's something we need to tell you about."

"While you were out cold." Mikey said "Splinter revealed, he had snooped on Fossil talking to some 'Council of Elders' or whatever."

"I think we should probably just show him." Leo said and the three of them clasping Don's they showed them Fossil being grilled by the Shaman Elders and the unpleasant song they sang about how Donatello would never be accepted among the Humanimals.

When the memory sharing ended Don pulled back "Wow..." He said he sat on a rock, thinking back to the enemies his brothers faced before they met the Humanimals, Gangsters, Ninjas, Mutants, Aliens...None of them ever had an elaborate musical number expressing their motivations in rhythm and rhyme and that was still the most off-putting thing about it, people singing and dancing like they were in a Broadway Musical.

But as he thought about individual lyrics 'His questioning could derail our fate' and he realized that more than 'tainting' the Humanimal gene pool with his Mutant DNA he in particular had stoked the ire of these Shaman Elders by asking about the Abba-Dingo and had put their security at risk.

"Shell..." Don squeaked as he thought about how Andromeda might be doomed to be a social pariah not only for being a half-breed but for being the daughter of a troublemaker…

"At least..." Don sighed "...At least the Elders have a decent reason to hate me...Not just because I offend their sense of aesthetics."

"Huh?!" His brothers gasped

"I also have something to reveal to you..." Don said

 _ **So I'll leave that part for next chapter**_


	28. Beasts Like Gods

_**Here is where I reveal the darker side to Wyndem Moreau and reveal him to be like a male equivalent to the evil stepmother**_

 _Flashback_

 _Don came to Wyndem Moreau from his Tux Fitting, he was sore from being poked with pins._

" _Was this really necessary?" Don asked "Couldn't you have made a 3D model of me..."_

 _Wyndem shattered the glass of whatever beverage he had been drinking in his hand, Don froze._

" _You listen Mutant and you listen good!" Wyndem hissed "The only reason I'm letting you marry my granddaughter is that you make her happy but you can not believe how disgusted I am that she chose a Male who wasn't a Humanimal!"_

 _Don was completely frozen, that man hidden behind the red metal mask seemed to have become a demon...His eyes glowed with a demonic smolder that Don remembered from the Tengu Shredder!_

" _You gross slimy sewer dwelling freak!" Wyndem hissed "I transferred Belladonna's mind to the most beautiful and majestic creature in existence a Dragon! And she chooses to have you be the sire to her whelps!"_

 _Don gulped hard_

" _Humanimals are the most perfect of all possible living creatures." Wyndem said "Any Earth Animal polished to a dazzling shine...But more then there physical perfection it is their ascetics of the soul that I most covet!"_

 _"A...Ascetics of the soul?" Don squeaked_

 _"I heard the tale about how you met Chardanaro and he told you the actual story of how Humanimals came to be...I was able to learn that story many years ago...What Humanimals are are Beasts like Gods…The closest to divine a mortal can possibly be...They are nearly perfect beings...But you and your ilk, you're as bad as 20th century man!"_

 _Wyndem finally said "You will be under my thumb for the rest of your life...After you and Belladonna are married you shall be my servant...My Houseboy...And you will do it...For if you don't...You will regret it...I guarantee!"_

 _The vagueness of it…The fact he didn't even say what the punishment was caused Donatello to jump to the worst conclusions...He sensed the demonic energy coming from him, he sensed how unhinged this Man actually was...He feared that Wyndem would kill Belladonna, Andromeda or both...It seemed to Don Wyndem viewed Belladonna more as an experiment than a family member…_

 _End Flashback_

After Don finished telling his brothers this (He didn't want to Harkaskeerah it was too painful for him) His brothers stared with horrified faces

"Donny!" Leo exclaimed "Why the shell didn't you tell us!"

"I...I thought I could handle it." Don was choking on the lump in his throat as he spoke

"He was gonna make you his slave Donny!" Raph yelled

"He could have been planning to take you to another planet!" Mikey said "Separate you from us forever!"

"I was scared!" Don finally choked out sobbing "That man is unhinged! I feared he would kill Belladonna, Andromeda or both!"

 _ **Actually Wyndem was all bluff and he was counting on Don not being able to call it**_


	29. Hot Spring Talk

_**Here we get a bit more insight into characters as they soak in the Hot Springs**_

As the sun rose over New Eden, Don removed all his accessories to take a dip in the hot springs. As he slipped into the steamy water he slumped, he closed his eyes and thought about all that had happened. So much had changed.

Then the sound of footsteps, Don opened his eyes, Eartha was standing across from him, the Mole-Girl slipped into the water and swam toward him.

"Hey Eartha." Don said

"Donatello..." Eartha said "...I can't stop thinking about what happened to me...About the blood that flowed out of me."

Don winced as a reptile and a male, talking about menstruation was awkward at best, but it seemed the Mole Revenant trusted him so he listened.

"Morgan said that it would never happen again and I would return to having normal estrus cycles but...Something in me has changed...Maybe not my body but in my mind...I….I want to wear clothes. Ever since the blood flowed from me I feel...Vulnerable...Naked..."

Don remembered what Charlie had said earlier that all Mammals and Females of all species should cover themselves because for all Mammals they are actually rather unique in the Animal Kingdom, their genital tract is separate from their anal tract and they wear their naughty bits on the outside leaving them quite vulnerable to attack. Don thought about his reptilian shaft safely tucked deep within his body only brought out to do its duty. And for Females of all species...Because Females are the limiting factor in reproduction Don was familiar with the evolution of the basics of life, how eggs are more expensive and sperm is more cheap thus the male is often the philander his evolutionary prerogative is to spread his seed as much as possible while the female has SO much more reason to be choosey in terms of mate selection, for any female impregnation is costly, so much of the energy must be devoted to the new life developing within her which can be fatal during a famine more so for Mammals who give birth to live young than egg layers and with Mammals the birthing process itself can be dangerous, often the offspring protests to leaving its home and so birthing is a painful stressful process..

"Eartha..." Don said turning his head to the Mole-Girl who was had sunk her body deep in the water so only her head was above showing her blushing cheeks.

"...I think you might need some clothes tailor made for you...Your unique build won't fit most clothes designed for humans."

Eartha sighed "I think I need to wait until our task is over." She said "I will need to practice moving in clothes so I think I should wait until things are safe but until then...I feel strange 

Don smiled while he didn't have the exact same feelings Eartha had, he emphasized with her deeply.

Others came to soak in the hot springs, Si'Ni emerging from the Dragon Moth Cave (She still didn't like being under the stars) Slipped behind a large rock and removed her clothes and slipped into the spring next to them, while Si'Ni had been to public bathhouses in her own World of Dardunah, the thing was, they were gender segregated and even if most of these males were kind, she didn't wish to soak with them even if she had been naked when she first came to New Eden.

Eartha decided to leave Don's pool and join Si'Ni for a while.

"Hey Si'Ni." Eartha said as he joined the Danish Landrace Sow.

"Am I sunburned?" Si'Ni asked as she tilted her snout in the air as she felt the hot water around her.

Eartha took a moment to examine Si'Ni's face and shoulders, they did seem the tiniest bit more red than pink.

"A tiny bit..." Said Eartha

"That's what Ichabod said." Si'Ni said "I was surprised because I didn't feel any pain..."

The sound of slithering scales on rock as Ringo joined them in the pool, Si'Ni blushed "Does he havr to be here?" She snorted

"He is my Brother." Eartha said

Si'Ni quickly covered her nipples with her forearms and reminded herself mentally that these 'Revenants' were still thinking like Animals which is why they walked around naked and were by Dardunah standards insane but...Si'Ni herself had been regarded as a dolt by her society so if she really should have been an outcaste then at least she was home among the other outcaste. So she simply sank deeper into the pool and Eartha realized that Ringo probably shouldn't be in the pool with them, but rather than eject him from the pool, she simply asked Si'Ni what she had come to ask.

"Have you...Have you ever met a Mole in Dardunah? What are the Dardunah Moles like?"

Si'Ni's porcine nose twitched as she remembered something from her childhood "Moles aren't an uncommon Vajrah species..." She said "...But the only Mole I remember in particular was...Someone's slave..."

From the other side of the rock the sound of Marzipan hissing angrily, like the air rushing out of a tire...She splashed the water and said "I was a slave!"

Ichabod tried to soothe his Mate "Sorry Si'Ni. She doesn't like anyone being a Slave...Does…Your family...Own slaves?"

Si'Ni said "We only have servants, we're not that rich."

"Good..." Marzipan hissed as she swam to the other side of the pool.

The Turtles winced a nasty can of worms had just been opened, Leonardo for as much he idolized the times of feudalism recognized slavery as a more ugly aspect of the past.

Leo called "Si'Ni we're not angry with you...Slavery is just a touchy issue for a lot of us."

"You'd like Hathiyar." Si'Ni called "That country has outlawed slavery and the Gajah Dynasty strive to abolish slavery for all Janahkind."

That cheered the Humanimals and Mutants a bit, that Dardunah may be in the process of it's own abolition movement."

"Anyway where was I?" Si'Ni said "I was a child, not more than 5 years old I think, and...A Noble came into our Tea House with her slave, the Noble was a White Tigress and her Slave was a Mole...I remember...I liked the Mole's scent...For some reason...I crept around until I was behind the Mole and...For some reason I...Licked her calf...I felt this incredible urge to do so..." The Mole shrieked and my Mother pulled me aside and yelled at me for doing that...Not only was I acting dishonorably before a Sunborn Customer but I should not lick Slaves and other Outcastes because it is unclean...I might catch a horrible disease!"

Overhearing this story the Turtles and Humans realized Dardunah was not at all different from most Human Medieval Societies there was plenty of prejudice though it seemed to be more classicism than racism the expressions on the Humans' faces were clearly saying 'The more I hear the less I like it.'

Of course the talks soon changed to what the heck were they supposed to do to further their quest?

 _ **Si'Ni's story is based on something I actually did as a child, I once licked a stranger's calf at a public pool**_


	30. Donatello's Roar

_**OK took a break from all 'Serious Writing' for the Summer and during the Summer my keyboard began having issues with certain keys not typing unless I hit them multiple times the keys in question are 'Q, T, U, P, J and 1' I'm trying to be super careful but if any of those things are missing in any part of this chapter, you'll know why, anyway I was initially imagining in this chapter all five Mutant Cubs would be menaced by Doctor Rat's Hologram then I decided only the Female Cubs then I decided only Zeb decided to strike out on her own really the whole reason the Cubs are on this quest was because Zeb was the most personally affected and I really need to develop the Cubs as individuals they have individual voices and personalities but they tend to do everything as a group giving the impression of a hive mind.**_

 _ **This chapter has been brought to you by...Some really intense RP sessions on the Stealthy Stories Forum Pachys, Caboose, thanks so much you guys really give me a boost during this break, previous times I had tried 'Not Serious' stories on this website and I ended up regretting them and deleting them in particular Pachys thanks for giving me a real rough ride, appreciate having to work my brain extra hard...Thinking about what I should do next real tears started forming saying my OC's possible dialogue out loud (Though that's not very hard, I can make myself cry imagining my characters singing 'Memory' from Cats I could be a great actor if I didn't hate being in front of the camera) So for that, here's a chapter of Don getting some character development.**_

As the sun set over New Eden, the adults were preparing supper, while the Cubs frolicked in the grass, most of the cubs anyway, Zeb stood away from her Herd Siblings, her equine ears flickered, she heard something, it seemed like...Very faint music...The other Cubs had decent ears why couldn't they hear it? Zeb stared at the mountain the plants of New Eden were climbing up, the mountain with the roads from which the crates of Earthworms fell...Zeb snorted, and pawed at the Earth with her right hand...She could no longer stand this she had to move toward that mountain!

But as she started to walk away, Julia noticed her, the two boys were too engaged in their tickle fight, but Julia and Taylor noticed their sister was wandering away.

"Where are you going?" Julia asked

"To that mountain." Said Zeb

"By yourself?!" Julia exclaimed "At night?!"

"It's not that far." Zeb said "I'll just trot over there and come back."

Julia and Taylor exchanged worried glances, something about Zeb seemed...Off.

The Zebra Filly Mutant galloped away.

As she galloped toward the mountain the strange music became clearer, it was an eerie sound sounded almost like a cross between a human singing and some kind of unearthly ghostly howl!

Then she came to a grove and strange ans twisted trees, it was so dark a diurnal zebra's eyes couldn't see anything!

Then! A sudden illumination behind her! A familiar voice behind her "We meet again Child..."

Zeb spun around! There was Doctor Rat but he was different, he seemed to be glowing and she could see right through him! Zeb gasped! She thought he was a Ghost!

Meanwhile as the Adults were just about finishing the soup they had made for supper. Julia and Taylor ran in the Dragon's Mouth cave screaming "ZEB'S RUN AWAY!"

Everyone became silent and turned to the Hyena Cub and the Flamingo Chick.

Julia panted her long tongue hanging out of her mouth "Zeb...Said...She was going to he Mountain..."

"Which mountain?" Jonathan asked sternly

"The mountain with he cave of all hose things we found!" Taylor

At that moment Ichabod clutched his stomach, a sharp stabbing pain he knew he was about to have another eruption of something strange on probably a bio-hazard to his non-human friends.

"Oh geez!" He said as he began to rush out of the cave "I can't do this...Someone has to go after Zeb!" And he ran out to relieve himself.

Feeling a sense of Deja Vu from his first meeting with the Humaniamals, and remembering that moment was what led him to meeting the love of his life, Don volunteered to chase after the Filly, he had a sense he would find something important if not inherently pleasant…

Zeb left no shortage of tracks for him to follow, the hooves of her back feet tearing up the soft Earth as she galloped furiously, it wasn't long before Don came to the grove of twisted trees where he heard Zeb's voice and ...That Rat's...HOW COULD HE BE HERE WITHOUT THE INSECT GUARDS NOTICING?!

Don crept through the trees silently fighting the urge to charge forth Bo swinging, he heard he Rat's voice chuckling

"Soon my sweet _Equus burchellii_ I shall soon have you and the rest of those Mutant Cubs on my vivisection table!"

Don's heart leapt into his throat, he noticed his glow...The Rat, glowing and...Translucent? 'A hologram?' Don thought to himself, the Rat was on all fours speaking into a hollow log, when Zeb responded he saw her muzzle and hands poke out revealing she was hiding in the log.

"Why?!" She barked "What did we ever do to you?!"

The Rat laughed "You and the other Four Cubs have The Spark!" He said immediately Don was reminded of 'The Spark of Creativity' that Eartha was tasked with holding.

"Never before have a seen Creatures with a Spark like yours!" The Rat said "Who knows what it is capable of? Of course that part is the business part the pleasure part would be taking each of your individual organs and placing them in pickle jars for my ultimate thesis!"

At the word 'Thesis' Don felt something hot as boiling lava leap from his chest to his throat, he caught it there, kept it there...But he was beginning to choke…

"You see Child..." The Rat sneered as he poked his muzzle into the log "A basic model's only purpose is to further the advancement of the human race..."

Don could no longer take it, something had been awakened in him, something deep, something...Primal...No words could express what he was feeling so out of his mouth came a sound he had never made before...Sounded like a cross between a Giant Tortoise's bellow and an Alligator's hiss it was his roar! A Mutant Turtle's roar!

The Rat turned his head, Don simply walked into view, Don no longer cared about stealth the thing that awakened in him only cared for...Revenge? That was the closest thing he could think of but it still didn't quite fit.

"YOU..." Donatello's voice was still having a bit of reptilian hiss "You! How dare you say such things to a child!"

Doctor Rat realized that this was the Turtle who knocked him out with his staff during that first foray to First Earth, back then the Turtle had no idea who he was attacked him out of reflex for his Fellows...Here the Turtle knew who he was and instead of who fear he saw only a murderous hatred in his eyes that instead caused him to become terrified, if saw in that Turtles' eyes a wish to tear him apart with only bare hands.

"You're not science!" Don yelled "You're the pretense of science just to indulge your sick sadism!" He thrust his Bo forward, it went right through the Rat and he didn't even flinch!"

"Just as I thought..." Don said "...Only a hologram...You've somehow found a way to project a hologram of yourself into New Eden..." He withdrew his staff "As a real scientist you have no idea how insulted I am by your mockery of science, but what you just said to Zeb...I just...UGH..." He groaned "...I'm so fricking angry I can't even speak words! Instead you have me roaring like a wild animal!"

Don walked as close as he could without actually stepping into the hologram "I thought I knew hate." He said "But I have never hated ANYONE the way I hate you...I'm not only a scientist, but a ninja...And as a Ninja, I take a solemn oath, for science, for love, for life itself! I will kill you myself!"

That was when Doctor Rat decided he should end projecting the hologram before he got a fear induced transmission leak!

With the Demon Rat gone Don turned his attention to Zeb...Remembering what she had said in the Interdimensional caverns...And remembering how he had only been thinking about how he hated having to work with Morgan when there was a far worse evil that had been haunting Zeb and her siblings...Don only thinking of his own pain which was mostly his own fault being unwilling to tell anyone he was scared to ask for help meanwhile this Zebra Filly, not even old enough for preschool was willing to face that demon to know for sure if she had a soul…

"Zeb..." Don's voice had changed, tender, limping "...I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Zeb squeaked "For what?"

"For..." Don's mouth quivered "...For being selfish...Thinking only of my own pain, not realizing what he real danger was."

He held out his hand to her, Zeb crept forward a bit but she wobbled and fell flat on her belly, it was clear she was still so scared her legs were like jelly.

"Here." Don said tenderly "I'll carry you back"

He pulled Zeb out of the log and held her in his arms, "You are one of the bravest creatures I've ever met." He said "Don't let anyone tell you otherwise..."

He then ran back to the Dragon Mouth with Zeb in his arms, they came back to raucous cheers. Zeb could see everyone there because of the illumination provided by the giant fireflies. Zeb searched b found Ichabod wasn't there. Her ears flopped descendant.

"You're safe." Don said "Just don't go running off again." and without even thinking he kissed her on the cheek.

Zeb's ears perked and she squeaked "You kissed me!" She had received those kinds of kisses from Ichabod, Marzipan and her adoptive Humanimal Parents, but Donatello wasn't 'Part of the Herd' 'Part of the Family' he was 'Friend of the Herd' which is different.

"Oh." Don blushed and gave an awkward laugh when he realized what he had just done, he probably just went beyond the comfort zone "Sorry Zeb…I think it's all those paternal hormone surging through me." He set her down she slowly walked back to her Herd Siblings

 _ **OH YEAH! I'm back in the swing of things baby! Back to the epic prose that made up the best chapters in the Mutant Riots**_ _**Quartet (Battle for the Earth is in my opinion the Quartet's equivalent of The Empire**_ _ **Strikes Back) while this story isn't meant to be an exact parallel to**_ __ _ **Dante's Inferno (You should seriously watch the video by YouTuber Trey the Explainer about how Over the Garden Wall is a retelling of The Inferno) That while in The Inferno Satan is trapped in the center of Hell but can project his shadow to spy on other places here Doctor**_ _ **Rat does essentially with a hologram**_ __


	31. What is a Homunculus?

_**So watched a video on YouTube called 'The Philosophy of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood and I got to say it helped me a lot I was struggling to figure out how the heroes were actually gonna solve their conflict mainly how were they to figure out where to go next the video helped me A, Solidify the Villain's motivation and how his abilities actually work and B, solidify the conflict between Doctor Rat and Donatello from here on out, previously in the story Don was too preoccupied with his previous traumatic experience of being raped and having to actually work with his rapist now with the conflict between Don and Morgan ended, we can full throttle begin the journey to Doctor Rat!**_

 _ **Also back in Tearing of the Veil I implied the reason Humanimals react to 'Homunculus' as the worst kind of slur, Cordwainer Smith referred to Underpeople as 'Homunculi' in his Underpeople stories though they would be classified as 'Chimera' by Fullmetal Alchemist's standards**_

Don told everyone what he had seen and heard and all agreed, if Doctor Rat could project his hologram here, he knew where this place was, they could no longer wait they had to make their move, the question was what was that move to be?

Marzipan found Ichabod some distance away laying in the grass panting, exhausted, as she came closer to him the scent of overripe fruit wafted off him.

"Ichabod..." She mewed

"I can't..." Ichabod said breathless "I can't Marzi...I'm too toxic...Every bodily eruption I have is a deadly mixture of toxins to animals, including humans..."

"Ichabod..." Marzipan felt she would break down into sobs when a soft musical sound caught their attention,

The music was accompanied by dancing lights, not the lights of the Giant Fireflies, no, like the music these lights were stranger, more ethereal…

"Will O' The Wisps!" Ichabod exclaimed

Ichabod and Marzipan exchanged glances, this had to be a sign, and they would follow it...Together.

Donatello meanwhile was exhausted, he curled up in the bed that had been made for him, just a pile of fresh grass, but Don had slept in worse places, and the grass was incredibly soft and cool to the touch.

As he slept he began to dream...In his dream he saw both Eartha and Ringo, they both seemed to be curled up in fetal position, Eartha had her arms wrapped around her knees brought up to her chest, Ringo had done essentially the same with his muscular coils.

That was when Don noticed the two of them seemed to be sleeping in water, two drops of water that seemed to be dangling off a pair of giant human hands!

" _From the waters we all came..."_ A familiar voice echoed in Don's head

"Artemis!" He cried out "We need help! We don't know what to do next!"

 _"I have seen to that..."_ Came Artemis' voice _"But I need YOU Donatello to do one thing for me."_

"What's that?" Don asked worrying it wold be something extremely unpleasant.

" _You must demand the Humanimals tell why they are called Homunculi."_

Don blinked then he remembered that was what Edward Green called Morgan to send her into fits! It clearly was a racial slur.

"Um...Why exactly is this necessary?" Don asked

" _You'll see."_ Said Artemis

The dream then changed, a mass of writhing flesh colored tentacles came from everywhere! And a giant maw appeared seemingly to eat everything!

Don's eyes shot open! He was sweating, then he realized the eat wasn't just from the dream, he had five bed warmers with him! The Mutant Cubs had all joined him after he was asleep, only Taylor was sleeping some distance away from him, the Flamingo Chick was nestled down a few inches away from his head, where all the others were touching his body, with Zeb, laying with her head under his chin,

Don wasn't sure what to make of this but then he thought, after Ichabod went out to relive himself, had he not come back yet? Don realized he had not seen or heard Ichabod when he brought back Zeb, nor Marzipan...Hopefully this was related to what Artemis said when he asked beseeched her for help on what to do next, and Zeb did seem like she was becoming the leader of her group, she probably lay down beside him because he saved her tonight and her siblings followed, Taylor was sleeping some distance away because it was clear she was the one Ichabod doted on the most 'Papa's Girl'

Don smiled realizing he was grateful the company tonight, he lay an arm over the Zebra Filly and murmured "Sweet dreams Zeb, when my daughter hatches I hope she'll be like you..." With that he fell back asleep…

The Sun rose over New Eden everyone awoke to the Roosters' gargled crowing Ichabod and Marzipan rejoined everyone for breakfast, Ichabod seemed much more chipper and he wasn't glowing like radioactive waste though he was still as green as New Eden itself.

"Where the devil have you two been?!" Ichabod asked sternly "I've been worried sick about you!"

Both Ichabod and Marzipan gulped and blushed "Well...Uh..." Ichabod began to say

"Hold on." Don said "I had a dream last night, Artemis spoke to me."

Everyone gasped and turned to Don

"Great Mother spoke to you?!" Eartha exclaimed "She didn't say anything to me! Did she say anything to you Ringo?"

"No." Said the Ring-Neck Snake

"She requested something of me because of a specific knowledge I have before I met you." Don said "And she told me to demand the Humanimals tell everyone..." Don sighed "...Why are they called Homunculi?"

A gasp from all the Humanimals!

"Why do we need to know about the slur?" Raph asked

"Well it IS a very odd slur." Don said "And Artemis just said it's important."

The Humanimals shuffled and coughed a bit, then they all turned to Marzipan

"You weren't born a slave." Bill said "You never encountered that eight years old, and you didn't know what it meant until someone explained it to you...You can say it without descending into your Animal Voice..."

Don gave the side eye to Mikey this whole thing felt like that certain book series with the villain almost everyone feared to say the name of…

Marzipan stepped forward meekly, the Ragdoll Cat-Girl's pink and purple fur seemed oddly pale.

She took a deep breath and began to speak "Homunculus, Plural Homunculi, is a word that historically meant many different things it was once believed that sperm contained tiny Human Beings that grew into children in their Mother's wombs, it also has been the name for the 'Ghost in the Shell' the idea of the tiny person inside a body that controls your body, you see this more in old cartoons."

"I know those definitions." Don said "What do those things have to do with Humanimals?"

Marzipan sighed "That rests with the most famous definition of Homunculus "The kind that was said to be created by Alchemy...Homunculus simply means 'Little Human' the idea was they were artificially created humans grown in jars, it is believed this was the real goal of Alchemy not turning lead into gold...We Humanimals are not Human, we do not have Human DNA unless we have a Human parent, grandparent or ancestor but with the idea of turning lead into gold, taking something 'lowly' and making it 'noble' Humans take an ordinary 'unintelligent' (Everyone took note of her finger quotes) Animal and turn it into a biped with opposable thumbs who is as intelligent as a Human we may not be Humans biologically but we can do almost anything a Human can do...But we never could have done it on our own Humans created us to serve them...That's why Homunculus stings so much it means we're artificial beings created to serve, basically calling Humanimal a Homunculus is calling them a slave..."

 _ **And that is my explanation of what Homunculus means to the Humanimals**_


	32. Climb That Mountain

_**OK Everybody this may be my last chapter for a long while, not only does my computer have sticky keys but one of the hinges on my computer is breaking I took it to a repair place and they said it would be cheaper to replace it rather than repair it and I've only had this computer for two and a half years at most…Take a break for Summer and the Computer breaks down over the Summer.. Anyway this may be the last Fanfiction Chapter and I will write something for my Fictionpress portfolio for Halloween but this chapter is for World Animal Day October 4th but because I have an appointment on October 4th I'm writing this chapter early**_.

"If we're done with that…" Ichabod said "...I'll tell you where we were last night. Last night Marzipan and I saw some Will O' The Wisps dancing in the distance, we followed them and we found a cave…In the cave we found a being known as the Firebug, which despite his name isn't like an insect, he's more humanoid like…Like a Gnome, like a Garden Gnome made of Fire, he sent the Will O' The Wisps to attract us to cave…He told us he had been sent by Artemis to inform us of what to do next and he would also temporarily dial down my toxicity so I can travel with everyone else he said that I do need to find permanent cure for this…Unfortunate state of being…" 

"How did he 'Dial Down' your toxicity?" Don asked because he wanted to know how a Fire Elemental good affect a Plant based Being without hurting them. 

Ichabod blushed again "How about I tell you about what he said we should do next, because that's more important." He said

Ichabod turned to a certain Mountain of the west side of New Eden "He said we need to climb that Mountain…That specific Mountain over there…He said we'll find what we need on that Mountain."

That Particular Mountain did have much greenery reclaiming it. 

"After that he said we'll have to find our way to Stone City, the former Salt Lake City from there we will have to journey to Doctor Rat's fortress, an entire Mountain some distance from Stone City where will have the final battle with Doctor Rat. 

After hearing those instructions Mikey turned to everyone and said "So…Standard hero stuff, what we've been doing since we were 15."

His Brothers sighed, this really had been what they had been doing since they were 15 of course that didn't alleviate the horror of everyone they had learned about Doctor Rat and this Dimension. 

Si'Ni having heard all this she realized she was in the company of Heroes if not equal to the Talon of Kramah they were at least equal to the heroes she had read of in the tales from the Age of Heroes which came before the Twilight Wars and thus before the Talons of Kramah. Even though these creatures had initially seemed strange and terrifying, Si'Ni was beginning to feel a bit 'Starstruck' realizing she was among heroes like those she had read about only in stories. 

"Well." Si'Ni said as she stood "What should I do to help prepare for the journey?"

Everyone turned to the Sow, she was the only one who wasn't in anyway trained for combat she was a Middle-Caste Cook. She was a potentially liability.

"Si'Ni." Don said "You do know how dangerous this journey will be…"

"Yes I know." Si'Ni said "But I have come this far I can't stop here!" She stopped when she realized she was beginning to yell. "Maybe I've read too much epic poetry…" She said "…But in all those tales of Heroes and Devah…Even if the Hero starts out as a Peasant or even an Outcaste when he or she realizes what must be done he or she can not abandon the quest! I alone was able to break free of my cage so weather or not that was decreed by any Spirit Above I have a duty to my Fellow Janah, even when I find them they are all dead, to find out what happened to them so that I can tell their families…Yes…I feel it deep within myself…If I am to find my way home to Dardunah I must follow this to its end wherever it might take me."

The Turtles found themselves smiling at the Sow's sincerity, this was all the things Splinter had taught them about honor so of course they had to let Si'Ni join them on their journey. 

They packed their things and began their journey towards the Mountain 

This Mountain seemed to be more natural than other Mountains that surrounded New Eden not as insanely steep and seeming they had sprouted in minutes instead of millennia this one even appeared to have a worn hiking trail which seemed incredibly out of place in such a wild and chaotic place, but everyone was grateful they didn't have to scale the mountain. Si'Ni of course was in great pain as they began the ascent causing Eartha and Ringo to worry she might die, but Don assured them it was only because she was overweight and out of shape, after a few moments of catching her breath Si'Ni was able to continue very slowly, with Eartha and Ringo flanking her for to keep watch over her 

"If nothing else…" Si'Ni said between gasps "I'll have much stronger legs after this."

Don chuckled hearing this, they were just turning a bend when suddenly Don was struck by a psychic attack, one moment Don was on the mountain the next he wasn't…He was in a dark space it was hot and humid and there was a scent of rotting flesh

"Where am I?" Don said trying to orient himself 

"You are in my world…" Came a Familiar Voice and here it seemed to be coming from everywhere!

Don looked up and too his horror he saw Doctor Rat's head, a Giant head the peak of some horrific mountain made of flesh! Underneath Doctor Rat's head was like an eternal bubbling of different kinds of Animal Heads with occasional arms reaching out trying to crawl out of the horrific mountain.

"My motor is fueled by both liquefied animal matter and the souls of living creatures…" Said Doctor Rat

Don could see the heads of Cattle, Pigs lots of Wild Creatures but also Humans! There were lots and lots of Humans among the mass of faces 

"I thought you said Animals had no souls!" Don said "I thought everything you did was to serve Humans!"

"There are important humans and there are common humans who's only purpose is to serve their Leaders and Animals purpose is to serve Humans, in any case what you call a 'soul' is merely life energy that separates life from non-life all these creatures are is energy to be consumed…These creatures can't remember who they are or even their original forms, they can never return to life…This is the essence of life Turtle, you must see what the true value of life is…"

Don felt hot tears sting his eyes…This couldn't be true! What the demon rat said just couldn't be true!  
Suddenly he heard voices, his Brothers voices, he felt a hand grab his wrist and pull him out of this dark place! 

Don opened his eyes he was on the same place on the Mountain. 

"Shell…" He said "What happened 

"A Psychic attack." Marzipan said "You started screaming and jumping like crazy, you would have fallen off the edge of Morgan hadn't caught you and wrapped her in her coils. She was able to repel the Psychic attack while she had you wrapped up."

Don stood "Where is Morgan?" He asked 

"Back there with Eartha, Ringo and Si'Ni." Marzipan said 

Don went over to them "Thanks Morgan," He said "I owe you."

The Black Mamba-Girl merely blushed and didn't say anything.

"It was the Demon Rat." Don said darkly "He revealed to me what fuels his…Motor…Both the flesh and the souls of living creatures…Including Humans."

 _ **Bittersweet this might be the last chapter for the rest of the year**_


	33. Will and Liz

_**So here are some friendly 'Bloomans' (So called because of their bright blue complexions caused by the strange 'Neutrigruel' they eat who are basically meant to be Avatars of William Kotzwinkle, the Author of the original Doctor Rat novel and his wife Elizabeth I don't like the idea of Real World people fanfiction Wild Kratts is a bit of a gray area since it is clear 'Cartoon' Chris and Martin Kratt aren't the same as 'Reality' Chris and Martin Kratt to compromise I simply refer to these two characters as 'Will' and 'Liz' (I know Mr. Kotzwinkle was often referred to as 'Bill' but I'm calling him Will so to not confuse him with Bill Brandy the Bull Humanimal.**_

Don told everyone about what Doctor Rat had told him, however he didn't mention what he saw...It wasn't that he was trying to handle things on his own like before, rather he didn't wish to terrify and thus demoralize Eartha and Ringo and to a lesser extent the cubs...What he had seen was too terrifying for them...At least at the current moment...If he could be with his brothers alone for a moment he would tell them, but that wasn't an option yet so he didn't mention it.

"I think he's trying to scare me." Don said quietly "Because I said to him I was gonna kill him myself..."

"You were pretty scary!" Zeb said as she trotted up to him "Especially when you roared!"

"Roared?" Mikey turned to Don "What does she mean by roared?"

"I think she confused churring for roaring." Leo said thinking that Mutant Turtle 'churring' does have a throaty and rumbling quality that he assumed a Mammal might mistake for some kind of roar.

"Uh...No..." Don said as he felt a blush creeping on his cheeks "It wasn't churring it really was a roar...Like kind of sounded half-like the roars Leatherhead thus, half like a chur...I never made a sound like that before..."

"Whoa!" Mikey exclaimed "Can you show us Donny?"

Don blushed even deeper and rubbed his throat "I don't know Mikey...I don't really know how I did it...I...I just got so angry hearing the things he was saying to Zeb it just...Sort of happened." Don was worried his Baby Brother was gonna pester him to hear his roar and Don was really not wanting to do it again…

However the sound of someone's singing caused everyone to nearly jump out of their skins! Someone was nearby! And this someone probably had heard them…

Leo put a finger to his lips to signify to everyone else to be quiet, and he crept round the bend and saw of a cozy house all alone on the mountain, no other houses around for miles. There hanging laundry to dry on a clothes line was an old woman...No wait...She wasn't that old...It was an illusion caused by her white hair she was actually quite young but there was a way that she carried herself that made herself seem to carry the wisdom of the ages within her… Leo was watching her from behind a large rock. She was singing without words...Then she turned towards him, Leo tried to duck down behind the boulder but she knew he was there.

"Don't be shy..." The Woman said warmly "You're safe with me."

"Uh..." Leo had never experienced this level acceptance right off the bat "...Do you have any idea what I am...What do you think I am?"

"You might be human." The Woman said "You might not...I heard a multitude of voices coming...My husband and I have been watching what has been happening in the valley below and we've been watching what has been happening with the giant insects re-planting...Giant Insects have flown above our house...Initially they tried to attack us but the trees themselves protected us...Even though the Insects had planted the first trees the trees near our house sprang up before the insects came and when the insects tried to attack us the trees reached out with their branches, grabbed the Insects and flung them right back down to the valley."

"Who are you?" Leo asked amazed by her story

"You can call me Liz." The Woman said "Whom do I have the honor of addressing?"

"I'm Leonardo..." Leo said stepping out from behind the rock "...But you can call me Leo."

Liz's eyes briefly widened at the large reptile that stood before her but she quickly calmed

"My, my." She said "I don't know how it's happening but all the creatures who died are coming back!"

"I'm not from the world." Leo said quickly "I'm from another Earth where this war between the humans and animals that happened here didn't happen...But we do have two creatures who did die in the war and were brought back to life among us."

Liz's eyes sparkled "Really!" She exclaimed "They truly were brought back from the dead? Can they speak? Can I meet them?"

Of course everyone heard this conversation, Eartha's eyes sparkled "She wants to meet us..." She said

Eartha grabbed Ringo's hand but the Ring-Neck Snake wrapped his coils around a nearby rock when she tried to drag him along

Eartha turned to her serpentine brother irritably

"She's not gonna hurt you!" She tried to pry Ringo off the rock but he was wrapping more and more of his coils around the rock

"She's not one of the outsider humans..." Ringo protested as his Mole-Sister tried to slip her large clawed fingers under his coils to loosen his grip "She's one of the Humans who killed us!"

"How do you know that?" Eartha grunted as she strained trying to pull him off the rock "She could have been a human who never hurt an animal in her life!"

Jonathan finally felt he had to intervene "Eartha, it's fine." He said quickly "If he doesn't want to meet her he doesn't have to...At least not this very moment...I'm sure she'd be content just to meet you."

So most of the crew introduced themselves to Liz, she told them about her husband Will who would be home from work in a few hours.

"Can I get any of you something to eat or drink?" Liz asked "Will has some theories about what happened during the war you might want to hear..."

 _ **Things are getting juicer and juicer**_


	34. The Demon's Head

_**Yeah I know what Batman Villain Ra's A Ghul's name literally means in Arabic but here it will be a lot more literal than in that case. This is probably gonna be my last chapter for a while because my computer is breaking apart so I might as well stop with my 50th Document.**_

Morgan said "I'll stay with him for the moment, I'll see if I can soothe him into seeing the Humans."  
Eartha nodded to the Black Mamba-Girl and the Mole Revenant went to meet the Human who called herself Liz.  
The Fruits and Vegetables that Will and Liz gathered near their house were not nearly as large as the gigantic fruits and vegetables that grew in the valley but still they were pretty large specimens…  
"Is this all you eat?" Ichabod asked  
"We still eat the Nutrigruel." Said Liz "We do it to keep appearances, if we stopped eating the Nutrigruel we would cease having blue skin and white hair and if people saw us return to our natural colors they would become suspicious and they would come poking around to our remote Mountain home…And we knew we didn't want that."

The Fellowship crew seeing, she had only plant foods to eat offered her some of the non-meat Animal Foods from their cooler, eggs, ice cream and cheese.  
"Oh!" Liz exclaimed "I couldn't possibly! After all we've done to the Animals…I couldn't possibly…" But seeing the gallon of vanilla ice cream she felt her mouth begin to water "…I haven't had ice cream in years…"

"Take it." Ichabod said "Or enchanted cooler will continue to fill with food constantly so we might as well give you some of our excess."  
Liz took the gallon of ice cream and placed it in her freezer to wait until her husband returned from work.  
As the hours trudged on, Morgan soothed Ringo and as the sun began to set she nudged him into moving with her into the garden so they could have something to eat.  
The two Serpents were sharing a cabbage leaf when they heard the sounds of a car approaching Will had come home it was so dark, he never saw two giant Snakes in his garden as he approached his house.  
After Liz explained everything to him, Will was initially amazed then his expression changed a kind of knowing… "Mother Nature is doing what she can to heal the malady that's afflicting her." He said  
"What exactly do you mean by that?" Jonathan asked  
"My wife and I never participated in the war against the Animals." Will said "We and a very small amount of other Humans objected to the mass slaughter but…Over the years even before the war…We had been noticing that Humans had been becoming more sadistic toward Animals…People we knew for years who had only been indifferent toward Animals were taking extreme pleasure in torturing them."

The Various Humanimals and Mutants shuddered at the thought, Morgan and Ringo were listening from the window heard and Morgan felt her scales crawl, but Ringo realized he was hearing something important about the Humans so he listened even harder.  
"Before the war I would hear the various creatures of the forest crying at night…" Will said "…As I lay in bed it seemed to be they were crying out…Begging for help…And in my dreams…My dreams were plagued by a terrifying figure!"

"What did you see?" Eartha asked  
"I saw…" Will shuddered "…A head…A severed man's head! A mass of tubes below the neck, connected to machines were keeping the severed head alive, the head was laughing like a maniac and when I saw the eyes…His eyes were like a blazing inferno! I called this figure 'The Demon's Head' and I dreamed about him for a while after all the animals were killed."

Jonathan and Edward Nygma exchanged glances.  
"We also know of someone else by that name…" Jonathan said "Or rather that's what his name means in Arabic…Probably a coincidence I seriously doubt they're the same person."

Will shrugged "I believe this 'Demon's Head' was what was behind the ordinary humans turning psycho against Animals, because when I stopped seeing him in my dreams…The People stopped being psycho…I mean there were no more Animals for them to torment but…It seemed they returned to their normal personalities they remembered doing the hideous things they did, but they don't remember why they did it and many of them regretted their actions…Many of them miss the animals."

This was a massive revelation!  
"So what we have is…" Jonathan began to say  
"…Some kind of mass mind control." Don said  
 _ **  
So this is probably gonna be my last chapter for a long while**_


	35. You Fill Up My Senses

_**You know what we haven't had for a while? A show stopping musical number! This song is brought to you by The Foundation for a Better Life specifically the PSA for 'Our Beautiful World' I first saw that PSA while watching a Wildlife Show (How fitting) I really liked the song in that PSA and found there was a longer version and it was called 'Annie's Song' but anyway the song actually really fits the Humanimals and can be viewed as the Humanimals song to all Naturally Evolved Races but most particularly Humanity.**_

After hearing all that, Ringo slunk away from the window

"So..." Ringo said quietly "These Humans never did hurt us and the Humans that did…Don't know why they did it."

For Morgan this was eerily similar to her own situation but she suspected there were several key differences between what happened to her and what happened to the Humans of this Earth.

"Do you want to come into the house?" She asked Ringo

"No." Ringo said "Still can't bare to be close to those Humans...The Outsider Humans are all right but our Humans...Something about their scent makes my scales crawl!"

"Do you think it's whatever turns their complexions blue?" Asked Morgan

"All I know is that their scent makes me want to slither as far away from them as possible." Ringo said as he Lay down among the cabbages "This is as close as I can stand to be near them without feeling a panic attack!"

Morgan felt strange feelings of tenderness toward the Ringneck Revenant she had not felt before she was beginning to see Ringo as someone she could care for…

"Then I will stay with you." She said as she lay down beside him in the garden.

Meanwhile the Heroes had previously mentioned continuing on their way to Stone City but Will and Liz insisted they stay at least the night possibly more

"It's not safe to travel to Stone City the way you are! While the Animal Creatures can get away with claiming they are victims of a splicing prank you regular humans are gonna need to disguise yourselves to fit in with the rest of us!"

"In other words." Mikey said "Turn into 'Bloomans'

"We have tons of Nutrigruel." Said Will "Stay here and eat enough until you turn blue and white like us."

"Is the flavor...Objectionable?" Ichabod asked gingerly

'It doesn't really have any flavor at all." Liz said "It's just slime, edible slime that contains all the nutrients you need."

Ichabod gulped "How appetizing..." He choked out.

That was when Bill noticed something on the wall "Is that a guitar?" He asked

"A hand crafted Spanish guitar!" Will beamed "You play?"

"Oh yeah!" Bill exclaimed

"Would you like to play us something?" Will asked as he took the guitar off the wall "I loved playing before the war but even after the plants and insects coming back I find...Something prevents me from playing even a dumb Pop song like something has cursed me to not have the heart to play music while so much of the Earth is barren and dead..."

Bill took the guitar in his hands, the Turtles watched him inspecting the musical instrument he seemed to have the same expression on his face that Splinter would have whenever he was inspecting the quality of a weapon.

After his inspection Bill handed the guitar back to Will "Later." He said "I think I need some sleep first."

Of course it wasn't easy for everyone to find a place to sleep in the relatively small cabin many were sleeping on the floor and some decided to join Morgan and Ringo in the garden for the night was warm and quiet.

Eartha being nocturnal was awake after everyone had fallen asleep she came out to the garden for a short while to stargaze but found the branches of the trees obstructed her view of the night sky she she want back into the house and trying to find a place that wasn't taken by someone else she discovered the attic! So many things she had never seen before! She lay down next to a large mirror and finally fell asleep dreaming of finally getting into the sky to see the stars and the Earth from above…

As dawn broke Eartha was woken from her dream by the sound of music! She shook herself the music seemed to be coming from outside! She crept out of the attic, seems the music had woken everyone else to, normally the Turtles wouldn't be pleased about waking up at the crack of dawn but something about the music seemed invigorating!

It was Bill! Sitting on a bolder just outside the garden fence playing Will's guitar, there seemed something unusual about Bill's expression, the Bull-Boy's face was as young and handsome as ever but there seemed to be a strange knowing in his eyes as if in that very moment Bill carried in him the wisdom of the ages!

He began to sing…

" _You fill up my senses_ _  
_ _Like a night in a forest_ _  
_ _Like the mountains in springtime_ _  
_ _Like a walk in the rain..."_

And that was when the Turtles noticed it, all around flowers were sprouting out of the ground and clusters of blossoms sprouted from every tree and this was neither Ichabod nor Eartha's Floraekinesis going into overdrive both Ichabod and Eartha noticed the flowers and both were amazed they weren't the ones causing it! Instead the one who was causing was Bill, but this wasn't a case of Bill suddenly developing Floraekinesis no this was different, seemed his song was causing the Earth to spawn all these flowers, This seemed to be another situation where 'Volatile Energies' in the area made supernatural things more likely to happen.

Bill continued his song

" _..Like a storm in the desert  
Like a sleepy blue ocean  
You fill up my senses  
Come fill me again "_

Don noticed Eartha and Rana who had been very quiet since they began climbing the mountain were utterly enchanted by this music and were currently laying on their belies, appearing like a couple of teenagers fawning over some Heartthrob Singer the Female Cubs Taylor, Julia and Zeb followed suit.

Bill continued his song.

" _Come let me love you  
Let me give my life to you...Let me drown in your laughter ...""_

'Let me drown in your laughter...' That caused Don perk up as he remembered when Belladonna beged him to hear his laughter again.

" _...Let me die in your arms!"_ Bill sang in a voice that seemed to shake to mountains! _"Let me lay down beside you  
Let me always be with you  
Come let me love you  
Come love me again_ _._.."

He then sang again the first stanza

 _"You fill up my senses  
Like a night in a forest  
Like the mountains in springtime  
Like a walk in the rain  
Like a storm in the desert  
Like a sleepy blue ocean  
You fill up my senses  
Come fill me again "_

 _ **This song will begin Don's journey to actively learn about the Music rather than merely being possessed by it**_


	36. Discoveries

_**So here we have a chapter where hopefully significant character development happens I've been meaning to get to the part where Ringo discovers he can fly by the same means as The Human Torch for a while**_

After Bill's Sunrise Song Will and Liz began trying to get the First Earth Humans to eat Neutrigruel to turn themselves blue but immediately the First Earth humans were having issues getting the blue slop to even stay down.  
Ichabod tried really hard but the slimy texture and even the complete lack of flavor in the Neutrigruel just disgusted him too much, he spat it back into his napkin.

"Ugh!" Ichabod groaned "I can't, I'm sorry I just can't! It has this texture I just…Ugh!" He reached for his glass of water to wash out the feeling from his mouth.

"Oh dear." Liz sighed "Seems like none of them can stomach it."

"Maybe they don't have to become 'Bloomans' as they call us." Will said "They just have to blend in…" He grabbed his car keys "I'm gonna get some blue paint and white hair dye, be back in a few hours!"

Meanwhile in the garden Ringo climbed onto a boulder, the same boulder Bill had sat on during his song and began sunning himself.

"You're thinking about something." Eartha said "What is it?"

"I was thinking…" Ringo said "…About I should practice my fire creating abilities, but I'm a bit concerned about doing so with all these pine trees around, it was one thing in New Eden if I caught on fire with only grass around and only the grass around me got burnt but pine trees, pine tree catch on fire more so than other trees, that's one of the things I remember when I was a tiny hatchling and there was a great forest fire."

"Oh my gosh!" Eartha exclaimed

"Fortunately I was able to flee into the pond." Ringo said "But I remember the scent of burning pine trees."

"I could practice my talent…" Eartha said "…But the vegetables in this garden are large enough if I made them any larger Will and Liz couldn't fit them into that cold machine they call a refrigerator!"

Ringo quietly huff-hissed but didn't say anything else as Eartha went back into the house, she returned to the attic.  
She snuffled around the various things in the attic, opening the chest of drawers she found clothes, particularly clothes Liz wore when she was a child. Eartha pulled out a bright blue dress and held it front of herself in the mirror.

"Eartha…" It was Donatello's voice Eartha turned her head to see him coming into the attic

"Eartha where are you…" Don stopped when he saw what the Mole Revenant was doing

"I found clothes." Eartha said  
"So I see." Don said "I don't think Will and Liz would appreciate you rummaging through their stuff."

Eartha sighed she knew this was true as an Animal she knew the Bounds of Territory, property was territory to Animals and she was violating it by touching the property without the hosts' knowledge.

"I know." Eartha sighed "I just…Wanted to try it out…But I don't think I can fit in this…I'm too plump even though all the other Moles said I was slender for a Mole."

"From what I've seen from the Humanimals each species needs clothes tailor made for their unique proportions." Don said as he took the dress back and placed it back in the drawer and closing it.

"Even though I feel naked," Eartha said "I think I need to wait until after Doctor Rat has been defeated to begin wearing clothes, I don't think I would be able to move as well with clothes on that could be fatal in a fight."

Don chuckled Leo had a similar complaint when he had to fight one time in heavy clothes to disguise himself as a Human it's a real funny story…"

Just then Don and Eartha froze, they both noticed something out the attic window, bright burning flame…It was Ringo on fire, he was slowly floating into the air!  
Eartha and Don quickly ran outside

"Ringo!" Eartha exclaimed "What are you doing?!"

At Eartha's voice the Ringneck Snake Revenant was snapped out of his reverie as his eyes opened his flames vanished and he plummeted back into the garden below.  
"How did you do that?" Eartha asked

"I…I…thought about practicing maintaining my body flames on the rock because rocks don't burn…" Ringo said a bit amazed at what he himself had just done "Just trying to see how long I could maintain a steady flame over my entire body I didn't realize I had gotten into the sky!"

"I see." Don said realizing what had just happened "It's like a hot air balloon your flames heated up the air around you and hot air rises so like a hot air balloon heating the air around you gave you lift."

"In other words…" Mikey said "…Ringo just turned himself into a Snake version the Human Torch!"

"Huh?" Both Ringo and Eartha said

"Comic book reference." Don said "We can explain it later.

Later Will returned with buckets of blue paint and white hair dye thus began to laborious process of painting the First Earth Humans' skin blue and dying their hair white.

The smell of paint caused Eartha to flee the house and she went past the garden a bit further up the mountain from the cabin and she found a patch where there were no trees because there was a large patch of solid rock she could see the stars.

"Hey." Don said "Just wanted to know where you were."

"The smell of paint irritated my nose too much." Eartha said

"Yeah it can do that." Don said "I've smelled that scent many times, I'm pretty accustomed to it. I've smelled a lot of things that would cause most others to vomit."

Eartha lay on her back and Don did the same. The scent of the flowers that Bill and summoned filled the air with sweetness.  
Thinking about Bill's song Don realized this World, Earth 6 was a Tuniverse because of the natives reactions to Bill's song, they were amazed by his ability to sprout flowers but the music itself seemed normal to them. Don turned his head to a nearby bright orange poppy and he fingered the stem about to pick it but he decided he didn't want to kill it and left it alone.

"Many years ago Humans saw pictures in the stars." He said "The named those pictures and called them constellations."

"Pictures in the stars?" Eartha asked

"Yeah," Don said "Do you see those three stars in a row, that's one of the most famous constellations, Orion the Hunter."

"Hunter?" Eartha said

Don realized mentioning hunters might be a sensitive spot "Sorry." He said quickly

"No, no." Eartha said "Please continue…I realize most Humans aren't evil, most just want to protect their own as any animal does other Animals hunt why would Humans be any different?"

Don smiled Eartha was progressing faster and faster, and he told her the story of Orion and other constellations…

 _ **Here I'm beginning Don's mentor relationship with Eartha**_


	37. Battle with the Cyborg

_**Well people this is it, there have been false alarms before but I feel certain this is for real the last chapter for a while before I get a new computer I want to make this a great chapter so we have a battle along with some character development the design of the cyborg is based on a design in an Astroboy Manga where before the chapter there is a prologue where Astroboy is conversing with Tezuka and as Tezuka describes that nearly all the Human Body can replaced with machinery except the brain and nervous system standing next to him is a very disturbing cyborg with a long thin snout and treadmill tracks**_

As the sun rose over the Mountain the freshly painted Humans gathered all the various Animal Peoples together and they bid good bye to Will and Liz, they left at dawn because as they would ascend the Mountain the plants would eventually cease growing and they would be in the desert again.

As the Heroes began their climb in another Mountain Doctor Rat had retreated to his hall of Olympian Deities, Trotter watched him in disgust as his employer lay on the floor crying like a little bitch.

See after Donatello declared his intention to Doctor Rat that he would kill him, Doctor Rat had been terrified! His attempt to intimidate the Turtle with a psychic attack had failed, that Black Mamba that had been Trotter's former employer and pulled the Turtle from the Dream.  
Why was Doctor Rat falling to pieces over one Mutant Animal's declaration of doom? In that moment Donatello declared his intentions to Doctor Rat, The Rat got a sense of Donatello's will and he instantly felt the Turtle's will was stronger than his own, He was beginning to feel that that Donatello wasn't really a Turtle but a Turtle-Shaped Reaper who was a sign that his fun would soon be ending and despite his insistence that Animals including himself had no souls and thus had no afterlife, despite his own insistence that 'Death is Freedom' he was terrified at the thought of his own death! Because the despite his own insistence he would have no afterlife he felt somewhere deep down that his death would mean something other than merely ceasing to exist, that there would be 'Hell to pay' as in his soul would be paid to Hell the instant he died. But he didn't knew how he knew that.

Despite his vast psychic abilities Trotter had no idea of what Doctor Rat was thinking he only thought he was so weak-willed that he was completely terrified by the first creature who had no fear of him (Which was not unlike the Wrangler Humans Trotter had encountered)

At last, Trotter could stand it no longer and he exclaimed "You're a disgrace to villains everywhere!"

Doctor Rat stopped crying and turned to Trotter  
"So you got spooked that, that Turtle wants to kill you, you have weapons at your disposal most can only dream of! Why don't we send one of the cyborgs instead of those filth monsters?"

Meanwhile as our heroes were climbing the Mountain, Donatello couldn't stop thinking about Bill's song finally he said "Morgan…"

"Hmmm?" The Black Mamba turned her head

"I was thinking…" Don said "…About the Tuniveres and all the things you natives of Tuniverses can do with music, twice I sang, once to save Belladonna from death by fear and one time…The music began and…I found my tongue possessed to sing words I wouldn't naturally say…I remember hearing that our two worlds bled into each other so that the 'Music' might actually have crossed over into our Dimension permanently so I figure I should actually learn about the Music…When I sing I was frequently out of breath and I noticed this doesn't happen with you guys."

Morgan's tongue flicked in and out with thought and then she said "Donatello, did you make sure breathe deeply from your lower lungs while singing?"

Don stopped for a moment and then chuckled "And here I realize I don't know the first about singing."

"We can teach you." Morgan said "Our History has a long legacy of singing warriors, what once believes were ancient myths we have come to realize were actually ancient wars against the Hatemongers entire armies of Singing Warriors sang until they blew out their vocal cords fighting the Hatemongers and they were never able to sing or speak ever again."

Don rubbed his throat and Leo found himself doing the same even though the way of the Ninja was silence and secrecy, there was that member of the Ninja Tribunal Hisomi who ceased speaking after becoming the Master of Stealth but there was a difference between choosing of one's own volition to never speak and permanently sacrificing your voice, to never be able to speak a word again even though you very much want to Don and Leo were beginning to see that the loss of your voice can be like the loss of a limb.

Finally as the Heroes neared the peek the plants ceased growing our heroes were exhausted and they decided to break for lunch.  
"We've waiting long enough." Jonathan said to Eartha and Ringo "We have excess amount of meat in our cooler we haven't eaten because we didn't want to offend the inhabitants of New Eden but we're here, we're exhausted, we intend to eat our meat."

"We'll take ourselves somewhere we can't smell it." Eartha said "…Before we do so, do you have any of those delicious chocolate bars?"

Mikey tossed Eartha two bars of solid milk chocolate.

Si'Ni also wasn't hungry, or more accurately she didn't want to eat when it was very likely Pig meat would be eaten.

As Eartha and Ringo began to tuck into their chocolate bars, Si'Ni approached them "The peek is just a few feet away, do you want to surmount it?"

After days without meat the Humans and other Carnivores found the meat was the most delicious they had ever eaten even if was just some grocery store cold cuts there ravenous lunch was cut short by a blood curdling squeal! Si'Ni ran past them, covering her eyes, squealing!

"Si'Ni!" Ichabod exclaimed "What is it?!"

"On the other side!" Si'Ni gasped through her hyperventilation "On the other side of the peek, I saw him! And the others!"

Ichabod, Jonathan and the Turtles surmounted the peek and were horrified and disgusted by what they saw, the 'Him' Si'Ni mentioned was the Vampire Bat Janah she spoke to, dead as a doornail his torso sliced open and all the internal organs had been harvested the Bat was only the freshest of various who had been killed and their organ harvested in various states of decay in this hideous landfill of death!

Eartha and Ringo stood silent, unable to move, they were having hideous flashbacks of their own deaths smelling all the rot and decay.  
Then came a sound like the clanking of gears, at once Eartha bared her teeth and her velvety fur which normally is supposed to stay smooth bristled, and Ringo hissed, small spurts of flame coming from his mouth!

Below them was coming a giant cyborg! A Human's brain and nervous system had been placed in a hideous mechanical body the head vaguely resembled a bird with a long thin proboscis that resembled a beak mechanical pincers for hands and moved on treadmill tracks like a tank.

"Um…" Don said to the two Revenants "…Guys."

"It's him!" Eartha snarled "He's one of the destroyers!"

Don had no idea how Eartha knew that but before he could say anything, Ringo's body became engulfed by flame and he launched himself into the air! He circled around the cyborg which tried to catch the flying serpent with his pinchers but Ringo was too quick!

Ringo then ascended several feet above the Cyborg's head and then dove! Giving a flaming body slam to the cyborg's neck breaking it and thus by attacking where the nervous system met the brain causing the entire cyborg to break down!

Doctor Rat and Trotter were watching this and the strange 'Lab TV' that seemed to be able to view anyplace in the world except for the New Eden much to Doctor Rat's dismay.

Doctor Rat was horrified that a mere Snake had been able to destroy one of his finest cyborgs but Trotter was thrilled almost feeling like he was about to have an orgasm!

"I must see these two creatures up in person!" Trotter exclaimed

"What the?!" Exclaimed Doctor Rat  
"We must!" Exclaimed Trotter "You're a Scientist, don't you want to find the source of their talents?"

But Doctor Rat realized that the Purple Banded Turtle wasn't all he had to worry about the Mole and the Ringneck Snake were also the greastest dangers to him.

 _ **And here is where Eartha and Ringo finally put themselves on Doctor Rat's radar, until then he hadn't even noticed them, because he wanted to Mutant Cubs so much**_


	38. Death of the Cyborg

_**Happy Thanksgiving everybody, which means Happy Birthday to Eartha and Ringo! As it was Thanksgiving where I finalized their designs deciding what species they were so in honor of that here is another chapter**_

The Massive Mechanical Monstrosity fell forward after Ringo's devastating blow to its neck, blood began to pour out from the base of the head.

"Holy shell!" Mikey exclaimed "THAT. WAS. AWESOME!"

"Yeah Ringo!" Raph cheered "You took a move out of the Wrestler's handbook with that body slam!"

But Ringo was silent he was still reeling from being reminded of his own death, killing the cyborg did not cause that to subside.

Eartha was feeling exactly the same no one, Mutant, Humanimal or Human had seen this because Eartha and Ringo had their backs to everyone else when it happened but when they saw the Cyborg their eyes began to sparkle and glow as they recognized one of the creatures who had contributed to their deaths, and this wasn't like the Humanimals' 'Twinkle in the Eye' no their eye at the moment seemed to be like Fourth of July Sparklers it almost seemed like their eyes were giving off sparks, if anyone else had seen it ,it would have had the opposite effect of the Humanimals 'twinkle in the eye' it would have been quite disturbing as it would seem as if the two Revenants had become Demons!

Ringo slowly watched the blood pour out from the mechanical skull, as the Cyborg's mechanical eyes began to flicker in its death throes the Cyborg croaked out "Thank…You…"

"Huh?" Mikey and Raph coming down to further congratulate Ringo froze hearing to Cyborg.

"Thank you…" The Cyborg said again in its mechanical voice "…For freeing me…I hated being in that mechanical shell and being a slave…You put an end to my misery…And after all the things I did to you Animals…I'm sorry for what I did to you…I was nasty even before the war…" No longer could the Cyborg say anything the eyes finally flickered off for the final time…Marzipan and Olive could see a ghost of a Man rising up from the Cyborg.

Hearing all this Eartha felt hot tears sting her eyes and begin to slide down her velvety muzzle the enemy thanked them for killing him! He was just as miserable, just as much a slave as any Animal had been!

Mikey and Raph also were stunned, normally the enemy didn't say thanks for killing them, they were just beginning to realize someone had unwillingly had their brain and nervous system placed in that Android and had been enslaved…And it seems like the guy hadn't done any transgression that he was being punished by, no seemed he was a soldier 'Loyal to the Cause' to they decided should be made a Cyborg weather he wanted that or not, so it seemed no matter how much you followed the rules in this society you weren't safe, the rulers can do whatever they want to anybody.

Donatello came down and softly touched Eartha and Ringo "I remember the first time I took a life." He said softly to them "I was the last of my brothers to do so…I remember…Feeling…The life pass away in my hands…It terrified me…"

Eartha leaned into Don's plastron, she wasn't weeping anymore but she nuzzled his plastron furiously, she didn't know what to say, Don simply stroked her head.

"Ringo," Don said "There is something you can do with your fire, come back up."

Ichabod and Marzipan had been talking with Si'Ni, the poor sow was still reeling seeing the rotting corpses of her fellow Janah, she had told the Earthlings that the Mahist Tradition on Dardunah was to cremate the dead as the Janah believed it would free the spirit from the body.

"What is cremation?" Ringo asked

"Burning the body after death." Don said "Till it is ashes…Our own Grandfather was cremated…Our Father took us to his homeland of Japan to bury his ashes there."

Hearing the mention of 'homeland' gave Si'Ni a terrifying thought "Wait, wait!" She squealed jumping up "If you burn the ashes here…So far from Dardunah…How will the Spirits find their way to the edge of Heaven? To the Devah of Dardunah?"

The Turtles realized they had a real dilemma on their hands, this was a sticky cultural issue.

"We can't carry all these rotting corpses around…" Don began to say

"I'll handle this." Marzipan said The Pink and Purple Cat-Girl turned to the Sow Janah.

"Si'Ni," She said softly "I have been blessed to…Know a few things about the afterlife…Both because…I have the innate ability to see ghosts and because in my world we've…Learned a few things about the afterlife but…What I believe is that Faith is what gets all intelligent beings to the afterlife they need to be, if they believe it so they will get to where they need to be."

"You really know for sure?" Si'Ni squeaked

"I've seen it with my own eyes." Marzipan said

Si'Ni smiled feeling assured by Marzipan's confidence.

"Do you think you can burn all these corpses safely?" Ichabod asked as he did have an intense fear of fire.

"All that is around us is bare rock and sand." Ringo said "But I think I have a way of being more precise with my fire."

Ringo turned to the pile of rotting corpses, opened his mouth and out shot a long spurt of flame with a steady stream of fire spurting out of his mouth, Ringo was able to concentrate his fire in one specific spot making sure that was totally burned to ash before moving on to the next bit.

"Are you sure you can do all these corpses in one sitting?" Morgan asked

Ringo took a brief break so he could talk and puffing out his chest said "I can do it, just have some water for me when I'm done, breathing fire makes me thirsty."

As Ringo resumed his work Eartha approached Si'Ni "Why do you want to burn the corpses?" The Mole asked

"We believe to free the spirit from the body so it can move on to the edge of Heaven you must destroy the body." Said Si'Ni

"Huh." Eartha said "My Spirit lift my body just fine while it was still whole. All our spirits floated into the sky waiting to get in to…Wherever it was we were to get into…And if we didn't have our skeletons completely intact, our Great Father couldn't call us back down to put our spirits back into our skeletons."

"Oh!" Si'Ni exclaimed "Well, if your spirit was able to leave your body…" Si'Ni thought about things she had read the other Darduni Cultures "it is known to most Janah that there was a time before cremation became the normal way…That in the Paksin Amin of Amnol the Amnoli People entombed their dead with the most important and wealthy being able to afford the expensive rite of mummification eventually those ways changed to be replaced by cremation rituals but many of those tombs still exist with the mummies still in them."

"We Humanimals typically bury our dead." Bill said "We see it as given the body back to the Mother Earth who birthed us…Even if we aren't on Mother Earth but another planet, the idea is the same.

As Ringo slowly burned all of the corpses one by one, he saw many species who Great Father had not chosen for resurrection, many species of reptile and bird and are the unique species of Australia. Why did Great Father not resurrect any of these creatures? Did he simply like the Animals of North America and Africa more, as so many of the Revenants were natives of those lands with a small smattering of species from South America and Asia (The Domestic Animals were ubiquitous to every land)

It was hard work but by sunset he had cremated all of them, he drank a large bottle of water as the wind scattered the ashes, the Turtles clasped their hands together in silent prayer and the Humanimals said their own traditional prayer "My heart has joined the thousand…..Many of us have stopped running today."

Si'Ni, who for most of her life had felt bitter towards the Devah for making her a 'Dolt' felt she could not say any of the traditional prayers, she felt her tongue was made of stone in that moment, but seeing these other creatures pray for her Fellow Janah she thought to herself "They all love in their own way…"

 _ **One thing I got to remember at this part of the story all the humans are disguised to have blue skin and white hair, so no Native Humans commenting on a character's red hair until the disguise comes off. Also Eartha and Ringo's eyes is something I wish I had included in the last chapter as it is an important part of the lore of the traditional Revenant that when the Revenant sees the person who wronged them before death their eyes begin to glow as they fixate on their wrongdoer I added the sparking as a mean to separate it from the 'Enchanted Gleam' of the Humanimals making the Revenants' seem more demonic as they remember their previous mission of revenge.**_


	39. What Measure is an Animal's Soul?

_**OK Folks this chapter is probably going to be the last one for a while, a while ago I borrowed the book Doctor Rat from the library with the intention of adding a chapter before last year was over but due to Christmas chaos that ended up not happening and even after certain relatives went away I still didn't read the book and actually had to renew it. Should give you an idea of what a Mother$*^()# pain this book is actually read the parts actually narrated by Doctor Rat are pretty nauseating describing the grotesque experiments the animals are subjected to while the parts described by the animals in the wild are such nauseatingly ham handed sentimental gurgle it's enough to make you want to eat a cheeseburger out of spite what is clearly animal rights propaganda, the thing is, I get what Mr. Kotzwinkle was trying to say with this work I believe he was more sincere about his message than the average member of PETA (I do question what he might have been smoking at the time he wrote this) Which is why I felt compelled to write this Fan-Sequel in the first place, remember I read this book so you don't have to (But if you still feel compelled to read the original book for yourself, I recommend don't read it while eating meat (Or anything for that matter) and have a puke pail nearby just in case)**_

That night they camped out in the desert, Stone City's bright light could be seen not far away. Eartha squinted at the city lights, so harsh, so gaudy so unlike the soft twinkling light of her beloved stars.

She gazed up at those twinkling heavenly lights, she held up her hands to them. "So close…" She sighed "..And yet so far."

The Mole-Girl sat flat on her rear with her legs out in front of her

"Hey." Came Donatello's voice as the Mutant Turtle came to where she was "You really shouldn't stray so far from the camp, especially after what happened…"

"I know…" Eartha said "…Just…Since I'm naturally nocturnal it takes a while for me to settle down, didn't want to disturb anyone."

Don smiled, he couldn't help but feel Eartha was like a female mammalian version of himself more so than April who he had done many experiments with, Don really was beginning to think of the Mole-Girl as a little sister figure, someone who could mentor in the ways of science.

"I'm having trouble sleeping too." Came a voice both child-like and yet having a knowing unlike any child at that age.

"Hey Zeb." Don said softly as the Mutant Zebra Filly trotted up to them "You're not still scared of that stupid Demon Rat are you?"  
Zeb's lower lip quivered "Aren't demons something you should me scared of?" She squeaked

Don sighed he realized his choosing to refer to the Mutant Cyborg Rodent as 'Demon Rat' as a means of not giving him the honor of the title of 'Doctor' probably wasn't helping things for the cubs…He still hated that Rat for what he did to Zeb, and he still intended to kill that insult to decent scientists everywhere himself, no matter what

It took."

"Zeb." Don said "If it's all right with you…Do you want to talk with me about your fear? If there's one thing I've learned over the course of this adventure is that you really shouldn't hide your fears from your friends and loved ones if I hadn't tried to hide my fears from everyone before my wedding the disaster that happened that nearly killed me would never have happened at all."

Zeb smiled and stood on her hind legs reaching out her arms; Don took the dainty Zebra Filly in his arms, sat down on a rock and sat her down in his lap.

"So…Zeb…" Don said "…Remember when said you needed to know whether or not you had a soul, well I kind of just realized the evidence is right in front of you…" He gestured to Eartha

"Me?" Eartha said

Sure." Don said "Remember the story you told me and Mikey about what happened after you died as a regular Mole?"

"Oh yeah!" Eartha said realizing what Don was getting at "My soul and the souls of all the other Animals flew up into the sky, till we were between the Earth and the Moon! And then we just stood there…For a really long time, don't know how long exactly since after we died we didn't feel hungry or thirsty or tired so without eating, drinking or even sleeping we kind of lost all sense of time but I did get a chance to get a great view of the stars and Earth from above! Then Great Father started calling us back, I remember the feeling of falling back down to Earth after spending quite a while in what felt like the same place…I fell through clouds, seeing the ground get closer and closer until…BANG! I was back in my body…What was left of it at least…Even though all that was left was a skeleton that was all Great Father needed to be able to call my soul back."

"You see Zeb?" Don said "If Eartha had no soul as an ordinary animal, then what could have possibly be called back? If the soul is the part that lives after death then how could Eartha have experienced anything after death? That should be proof beyond the shadow of a doubt, you don't have to worry! You do have a soul…"

Zeb smiled and wiped away a tear, she realized Don was right! This Mole had died and experienced life after death so you couldn't refute that!

"I was just so scared…" Zeb said "…When Doctor Rat said it, he sounded so sure."

"He sounds like a raving looney." Don said dismissively "Anyone can say anything, doesn't make it true, some people still claim the Earth is flat and we never landed on the moon though deep down I think these kinds of people are just jerks who say stupid stuff to get attention…Anyway…When I was very young…I was…Skeptical about the existence of any form of afterlife…I know Splinter taught us about karma and reincarnation, but deep down I thought there wasn't anything after death, but during our final fight with the Tengu Shredder and it was the spirit of Splinter's Master Hamato Yoshi who saved by finally defeating the Tengu Shredder, well with the irrefutable proof right before my eyes I could no longer deny there was SOMETHING after death, though what that something is might be different for everyone."

"Just…" Zeb began to say "…After hearing about what happens to Humanimals after they die…I realized something that caused me to begin worrying for me and my Herd Siblings…They told us what happens specifically to Humanimals after they die, which I am not and I know something Humanimals have that I do not."

"What's that?" Don asked

"Humanimals can give Humans babies."Zeb said "Whether it's Humanimal Woman marrying Human Men or Humanimal Men Marrying Human Women, Humanimals can give Humans children…Give…Anyone children…Mutants can't give children to Mutants of other species. I remember when Ichabod read to us The Little Mermaid, the original story not the Disney version and in that story, it says Mermaids don't have souls and they can only get souls by marrying human men and by doing that the Human Man transfers a little of his own soul into the Mermaid…So I thought…It was a similar thing with Humanimals…Because they can give humans babies Humanimals get souls as 'honorary humans'"

Don leaned back and frowned deeply, he didn't like that train of logic at all. For one thing it made the relations between males and females sound too much like a business transaction, because Don was such a believer in logic and enlightenment, he deeply believed the in the Age of Enlightenment people should only marry because they deeply love and care about each other as individuals, marriage as any form of bargaining chip seemed like a relic of the dark ages that's what disgusted him so much about Belladonna's parents that really the only reason they had Belladonna was so she could be a means to get into a royal family, but Belladonna's Batten Disease and thus the need to relocate her mind to a Humanimal Body put a crimp in their plans…And for a child to make those kinds of connections deeply disturbed him."

"That story isn't suitable for children." Don said darkly "To shell with tradition, it teaches abhorrent morals…That is one story where I'd say the bowdlerized version is actually an improvement."

Don decided to take Zeb back to camp, Eartha said she'd catch up with them, she simply lingered a little while longer, first gazing at the stars, then turn her head toward the city.

'Things aren't like they were before.' She thought to herself 'this time, I can face the Humans because I have become a woman myself, a Mole-Woman, but I have bled like a human woman so I feel I can call myself a woman…So Doctor Rat if you think you can just mow us down like you did last time you got another think coming!'

 _ **Aw! Nothing like an ending line that sounds like it came straight out of Shonen Jump**_ _**! Recently I had discovered an awesome but unfortunately ended Tumbler Blog Ask the Scarecrow which is basically one of several 'Ask DC Villain' Blogs with this one being the Scarecrow specifically from Batman the Animated Series, take the basic concept of Strong Bad Emails and substitute Strong Bad for BTAS Scarecrow and while I did check out other Batman Villain Ask Blogs I really liked this one on account of how well the author was able to answer in Character and how awesome the artwork was it was like it could have come from the actual show! It did end October of last year but I seriously recommend you check it out, unfortunately it had gotten me in such a BTAS Mood that I hadn't been in a very TMNT mood**_


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